Ink and Iron
by bardicvampire
Summary: Edward Masen a young jaded FBI agent gets a chance to go undercover in a dangerous motorcycle club, his way in is the former leader's daughter, Bella Swan. Can he bring them down without losing everything? AH/AU M for language, violence and future lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first thing I have written in a really long time so be nice. Also I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy...**

**Ink and Iron**

**EPOV**

My phone buzzed on the table top next to my bed, a small yellow envelope told me I had a new text from my boss, Carlisle. _Masen, meet me at the diner 8pm. We need to go over your new assignment._ Great, I thought,another boring mission of observation and logging hours, following people and spending all my fucking time in cars, great, fanfuckingtastic. I sat up and scrubbed my hands over my face, need to shave, and hauled myself out of bed. I walked into the bathroom of my apartment and headed for the shower, pulling off the flannel pants I had slept in. While the steam permeated the room and my sleep fogged brain I contemplated my job.

Ever since I had become a field agent with the FBI I had spent a lot of time in cars. Going to and from far away destinations for investigations, observing people, doing surveillance and stake outs. I wanted to do undercover work but I had to prove I was trustworthy and dependable and all that crap. It was so frustrating. I felt like I was never going to be able to prove myself at this rate, because while I wanted to be in the field, this was not what I had in mind. When the bureau recruited me after college, I got the impression that my misspent youth might make me a good undercover agent. They talked a lot about using me in missions where the white bread all American college boys that I worked with just wouldn't fit. I have to admit that I looked at them with some disdain, they were soft, having never had to work for what they had. Not that things were easy in the bureau but they floated through college and through their assignments wanting nothing more than to catch some bad guys and maybe some glory. I wanted to do more. I have always wanted more.

I realized I was just kind of standing in the shower so I slapped the water off with a quick twist and continued to brood a bit. Perhaps I can admit that maybe being such a fuck up when I was younger is what helped to land me in car duty. Being caught up with the wrong fucking people and spending time in juvie doesn't exactly make me the poster boy for trustworthy, but whatever, after five years of training and working in the field I should think that I'd get some kind of chance.

I splashed some water on my face and stared at my reflection, wondering yet again what made me decide to become Dudley do-right. The green eyes and bronze colored shock of hair that stared back at me seemed to tell me that I was more suited to howdy doody than anything else. I said fuck it to my hair, as it is impossible to control and went out to throw some clothes on. Khakis, a polo and some converse seemed vaguely appropriate for a meeting with my boss, especially since we were meeting at the diner down the block from my apartment instead of at the bureau headquarters in Seattle.

I patted my pockets; keys, wallet, phone and went to check mirror to make sure that the last few pieces of my equipment were not showing. The heavy fleece that I had shrugged on to protect against Seattle's crappy weather was thick enough that the shoulder holster underneath it didn't show, the glock in it's holster didn't show and I moved and shifted a bit in the mirror just to double check. Since I was not on assignment the back up snub nose would stay in the safe in my truck and not in the ankle holster I had for it.

Walking out to the truck I kept a sharp eye around, this was not a bad neighborhood per se but it wasn't fantastic either. Working class people just trying to make it through, a few blocks over and a few social steps up from the rougher area where I grew up. I grabbed my shades out of the truck and decided to walk the block to the diner since for once the sun was shining, best enjoy it while it lasts. The diner with it's mirrored surfaces was shinning it's presence from quite a ways away, it was actually kind of painful to look at but better once I got into the shade of the building. The bell on the door rang as I pushed inside and Maggie, the usual waitress glanced at me and pointed with her pen over towards the corner booth where I saw a head of shiny blonde hair waiting for me.

I yelled, "Coffee, black and two slices of apple pie," over my shoulder as I passed by Maggie and slid into the booth across from my boss.

"You can't just sit and order like normal people? It is her job to come over here and wait on your sorry ass you know." Carlisle said an eyebrow arched at me, "You always have to stand out don't you?"

I shrugged. My boss was dressed down today, normally I saw him in suits and ties but today he actually made me look dressed up in scuffed up boots, ripped jeans and a plain black t-shirt. I was actually kind of shocked, here was Mr. Fancy all dressed down, looking like, gasp, a human being. Seeing how he likes to bust my balls all the time I did the same to him and commented on his strangely normal attire.

"Shove it Masen, I am dressed appropriately for where we are going later. You're not. Your regular clothes would have been more suited."

"Dear god no, I dressed up for a meeting with my boss."

"If your boss wanted you to dress up he wouldn't have held said meeting in a diner down the way from your place moron."

"I suppose. So what is this new assignment about anyway, do I get my fondest wish and get to spend more time in a car with my ass going numb and my eye glued to a telephoto lens?"

Carlisle rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and waited while Maggie set the pie in front of us and topped off our coffee, juggling every thing like only a career waitress can. "Anything else boys?"

"No thanks Maggie and this should cover it all, you keep the rest."

My boss actually unbent enough for a moment to smile at the waitress, Maggie has seen him tons but I think the old girl actually has a crush. I am secure enough to admit my boss is a good lucking guy, he doesn't look much over 35 and has that whole knight in shining armor thing going for him. Carlisle is definitely one of the good guys. It must work too cause I've seen his wife, and she's a babe too though it's hard to think of her like that cause she is such a mom, Esme likes to take care of everyone.

Maggie flushed a little and said "Well you just let me know if you want anything else, I'll be right over behind the counter."

I snorted, he glared at me.

"Well Eddie," he said and it was my turn to glare, "I have a job that might work for you and if the contact who we are going to meet approves of you then you will have your shot at undercover. And I swear to god if you make me regret that I'm doing this I will make your life hell for you understand?" his eyes went hard at this last statement and I understood that the man I was looking at despite seeming like a peaceful pushover had seen more action than I likely ever would.

Carlisle had been raised a preacher's son but when money ran tight he joined the army instead of college. I'm not sure where he was stationed or what he did since most of it was classified missions but he has some nasty scars that I've seen when we have played basketball in the company gym or worked on hand to hand together. It's easy to forget because he is such an easy going kind of guy, but he has had a long time to learn how to smooth over all the rough edges. Carlisle's blackberry buzzed on the tabletop, he picked it up and typed while I finished my coffee.

"Let's go" he said and grabbed a worn leather jacket off the seat of the booth next to him slipping it on as we headed out. I nodded at Maggie and headed towards the parking lot.

"Where's your truck?" Carlisle asked.

"I walked."

"Well lets go get it and you can drive, I have the company blazer and it screams law enforcement a little too much for where we're going."

As we wandered down the block back towards my building I shoved my sunglasses in my pocket, it was starting to get dark and I would rather not fall on my face in front of my boss.

"Are you going to tell me anything else about the job?" I asked.

"Not much. A little more once we get in the truck, but until the contact sees you and approves of you we have to keep things quiet. I can tell you one thing, you said when I recruited you that you wanted to help stop the movers. The ones who pulled the strings and moved all the bullshit around be it guns, people, drugs, whatever. This job, if done right, has the potential to take down a lot of movers."

While Carlisle was talking my fists clenched, this was the chance that I had been waiting for. To get rid of people like some of the bastards I dealt with as a kid. The lights on my grey truck flashed as we stepped up to it.

"So where the hell are we going?" I asked as I swung up into the driver's seat.

"It's called Charlie's. Your contact, Swan, is the owner, it's on the outskirts, just punch this address into the gps and we'll get there." He showed me an address on his phone and we got moving.

As I pulled out into traffic, I asked, "So tell me more about this contact, why do they get final approval once they see me? Don't we usually handle things like that?"

"Swan is different than most other contacts. As is this job that you're looking into. The world that you will have to enter is exclusive and they can smell a cop from 10 miles away. Last time the local police tried to get someone in with this group, not only did the officer disappear but the person who they'd been using as a contact's body was found in the bay a month later, gunshot to the back of the head, execution style and it was probably a relief when it was delivered because they had been tortured pretty badly. That's why Swan gets the final say in whether or not you take this job. It is a big risk that's being taken here on both sides. If you don't fit in, can't blend into this world, you're fucked."

He was looking straight ahead as he was telling me this, from the lack of expression on his face I knew he'd done more than read the case file; he'd probably seen the last contact's body. After that I let it drop for awhile and we drove in silence. I can admit I was nervous, my already crazy hair was probably truly wild from running my fingers through it.

"There on the left," Carlisle said suddenly breaking me out of my thoughts, "the sign with the wheel and the blue neon."

I turned my truck into the drive of an old but well maintained building with two garage doors on the front of it and a blue neon sign that said _Charlie's_, with a flame on either end of the name and a large wheel underneath.

"Let's go in," Carlisle said, "and try not to say anything stupid. Swan will not put up with your bullshit the way I do."

I grinned at him, "Yes dad."

Carlisle rolled his eyes but kept walking towards the front of the building where there was clear window showing a desk and a small boring waiting area like you see at so many mechanic's shops. A bell rang when he pushed open the door and from within the confines of the shop floor we heard a voice say, "Be right there."

"Take a seat," Carlisle said, "I have to make a call. If Swan comes in before I'm done, don't be an asshole."

Awesome, more waiting.

45 minutes later Carlisle was still standing outside the window on his phone and the owner had still not appeared, no one in fact, had appeared and I was getting really fucking impatient. I was nervous anyway and now the contact whose approval I had to gain wasn't bothering to show up. My temper isn't the greatest and it was starting to tick the longer I stared at the back of Carlisle's head through the window and the empty doorway. I had actually gotten up and was pacing back and forth in the small room when on one of my turns I nearly ran face first into someone.

Through the empty doorway had come a young woman, who looked about my age wearing a pair of ripped filthy jeans, a tight black tank and black motorcycle boots. She had a wallet chain and long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and nearly ran into me as she was wiping grease off her hands with a shop rag and not paying attention to where she was walking. Now while it is normally a habit to notice shit about people, job necessary and all, this girl stood out as well because she was gorgeous for one thing and two, she looked really pissed once she saw me pacing in the waiting area.

I opened my mouth to apologize for nearly mowing her over when she gave me a quick up and down glance and said, "Who the hell are you?"

I couldn't stop the smart ass remark from coming. I just couldn't the waiting and the nerves had worn on my temper and I just couldn't stop it. Carlisle had warned me but sometimes it is hard to restrain the inner asshole.

"My buddy and I are waiting for Swan here _princess_ so why don't you go find your boss and let him know we're here," I growled at her and felt my face flush with anger and annoyance.

Her expression already pissed ratcheted up a few notches once the words left my mouth and then her pretty face turned into a sarcastic sneer.

"Well _prin_-_cess_, "she began slowly, "I'm Swan so why don't you tell me what you and your buddy want otherwise you can take your sorry ass and get the hell out of my shop and off of my property!"

Shit.

**That was the first part, not sure when the next will be since I work full time but I will try to update with some regularity, I don't want to be an author who makes you wait forever. Hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Chapter 2 New information

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story and favorited or put me on alert, I am really flattered and pleased that my first chapter was well received. Hope that you like this next part and that I didn't make you wait too long for it. **

**And as usual, I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy...**

Chapter 2- New Information

**EPOV**  
_"Well prin-cess, "she began slowly, "I'm Swan so why don't you tell me what you and your buddy want __otherwise you can take your sorry ass and get the hell out of my shop and off of my property!"_

_ Shit._

And my brain just froze. I couldn't form words. I was such an astounding fuck up and here again was my proof. The brown haired girl, _Swan you moron_, _Swan_, my brain screamed at me, was still staring at me with a look of disgust and anger. Suddenly the bell on the shop door rang and her gaze whipped from my face to a point over my shoulder.

"Carlisle! This had better be a fucking joke. If you think this pansy assed college boy is going to fit in with my club you are out of your mind. They would eat him alive. I would rather not get killed because college boy here is trying to earn his stripes!" she seethed at my boss as he (finally!) came in from outside and came to stand with me.

Carlisle arched one blond eyebrow at me and said rather succinctly, "What did you do?"

Lying to my boss was pretty much never an option because he would know I was lying and then grill my ass about it later anyway so I owned up.

"The inner asshole got the best of me. I was impatient, nervous, and getting pissed at being made to wait for fucking ever. She didn't exactly greet me with open arms either." It was probably childish but I couldn't resist that last dig.

Swan's eyes narrowed at that last comment and she opened her mouth to respond but Carlisle was faster, pulling her away with a, "Masen wait here and shut up," tossed over his shoulder.

I watched as Carlisle led Swan over to the corner by the desk where she sat behind it and he perched on the edge. They talked for about 20 minutes there was a lot of angry gesturing from her and several negating gestures from Carlisle unfortunately I couldn't actually hear what was being said. After awhile I sat and put my big stupid head in my hands. _Dumbass, fuck up, I thought to myself, you have totally fucked up your big shot. __Carlisle wouldn't have brought this to you if it wasn't something he thought you could do, that you would be __the best person for and now you have not only lost your shot but potentially endangered someone else who __would not have fit in on this mission as well as you would, great job fuckwit._

_____Eventually I stopped wallowing in self pity and started watching them talk again. At this point Swan was looking at me while Carlisle spoke; she had an almost a measuring look on her face. Carlisle was looking kind of irritated; it was almost the same look as when he talked to me. He gestured towards me twice in a sort of see-for-yourself motion. Swan rolled her eyes and pushed back from the desk, marching over to me planting hands on hips. Not that she was a terribly imposing figure since she was probably 120 pounds soaking wet._

"Is what he's telling me true? Were you a juvenile delinquent college boy?" she sneered.

I blew out a breath, _be calm_, "Yes I was a juvenile delinquent, from age 13 to age 18 I was in and out of juvie fucking up left and right. At 18 I met someone who helped me get my shit together and scared the idea of going to prison out of me, cause that's where I was headed. He helped me pay for college where I worked my ass off cause if I made less that a 4.0 he said I was on my own. I went to school so I could do what he did, get the assholes and sons of bitches that made the neighborhood where I grew up hell on earth, off the streets," I said.

"And who was it that made you pull your head out of your ass?" she asked.

By answer I pointed over to the desk in the corner where Carlisle still sat, he gave me a tight smile. Swan raised her eyebrow thoughtfully and wandered back to her desk. She and Carlisle talked for a few more minutes then she got up and disappeared back into the shadowed shop floor and Carlisle motioned for me to follow him back out the door we came through.

"I'm sorry, I-"started to say but Carlisle cut me off with a quick, "In the truck."

I climbed up into the driver's seat and after Carlisle slid in the other side, drove off.

"First off I am not sure what the hell you were thinking addressing a stranger like that especially when I told you we were meeting a contact. Second, she doesn't like you and you are really fucking lucky that I was able to convince her to give you a shot" he trailed off.

"I know, I'm sorry, I—wait, what did you say? She's going to give me a shot? I have the assignment?" I was staggered; I thought surely that I fucked this up beyond repair. I stared at Carlisle as much as I could while still keeping us from crashing while I drove.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You have the assignment sort of. This is the end of winter, not a lot is moving right now, and the shitty weather makes for bad riding so the club doesn't do a whole lot. You have about a month in which you get a trial period where you will be working in the shop, learning about bikes and setting up a persona. If, at the end of that time Swan feels you are up to par then she will take you with her to the club's first good weather ride. You will be introduced as someone she trusts and try to make your way to the inner circle which will include becoming a member and initiation. Swan will, over the month that you train, explain some more of these things to you, do not and I repeat do not screw this up," he finished all in a rush.

Carlisle looked at me obviously waiting for some response. Gazing out the windshield as I drove I took a second cause this man was my boss, had been my mentor and is the one who got me into this life and I had better come up with a decent response otherwise he would continue to wonder if he'd made a mistake with me, I didn't want to be a mistake.

"I could lie to you and say that everything will be fine, that it will all be perfect and that it will all go by the book. Damsels saved, dragons slain. But we both know that it doesn't work like that and the more you try to make it, the more likely someone will get killed. So I will tell you that I will do the best I can do. It will probably not be by the book, but I will do my damnedest to slay those dragons and to keep myself and that _charming girl I just met alive." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, he was watching the road._

He shifted towards me and I could see him smirking. "So, the _charming _girl you just met, did she piss you off because she was bitchy or because you thought she was hot?"

I could just feel the waves of smart ass coming off him as he asked me that. You will not respond to his baiting you, you will not, will not, will not. I could feel my ears starting to get red.

I scoffed, "Right. Little miss ice bitch got me hot alright."

Carlisle snickered, "Oh I knew it. You big sucker. You like her."

"Seriously? Are you 10? This is not a situation in which I could afford to be attracted to her even if she wasn't a huge raving bitch."

"Well that huge bitch is going to be your lifeline for the next few months so you had better find something that you can relate to her on otherwise you aren't going to blend in well. She can't present you as someone she trusts if you hate each other, neither of you are that good of actors." Carlisle said, suddenly serious again.

"Exactly how dangerous of a situation am I looking at here? I know what you told me before, but am I on red alert at all times? When do I need to watch myself the most?" I needed to get a better idea of what I was facing.

"Swan can give you the best details of what life with the club is like, who to watch out for and who might be helpful. But..." he trailed off and took a deep breath, "You know the scars that I have? I know that I've never told you how I got them and now is not the time. But the contact's body that they found in the bay, the marks on that man's body made my scars look like nothing. A cake walk compared to what that poor bastard had been through before they put him down." He looked me in the eye and I could see how serious he was. For the first time in awhile I felt that cold breath of fear slide down my spine.

"I can't promise you that no one is going to get hurt in all this. But I will do my best to come back alive and not add to your nightmares," my mouth quirked, "and you know I have some scars too. I am not anxious to add to them. "

"That's good kid." Carlisle pointed to the side of the road, we were back in my neighborhood, "Here, drop me off at the diner, I parked in their lot."

He got out and walked around, I lowered the window, "Carlisle, when will I hear from you again, when do we start?"

He laughed as he walked to his truck and called out over his shoulder,"Don't worry kid, she'll call you."

Fucking hell.

_*buzz* *buzz* *buzz*_ What the hell is that noise? _*buzz* *buzz* *buzz*_ Is it 5am? _*buzz* *buzz* *buzz*_ If that is Emmett calling me to pick him up from the bar again I am going to kill him. I rolled over and groaned, picking up my phone from the nightstand. I had a text. _Wakey, wakey college boy. Time to get to work. Be at the shop in __an ho__ur. And be prepared to get dirty._

Fine. The bitch wants dirty, that's what she'll get. I rolled out of bed grabbed my oldest holiest jeans and a white tank. I put them on not bothering to shower, figuring that since I would be dealing with grease and dirt today there wasn't much point. I brushed my teeth, shrugged at my hair and went to grab the rest of my gear. I pulled on a pair of steel toed boots not wanting my toes crushed if I dropped something and checked the safety on my gun. I pulled on a black t shirt and put a heavy denim jacket over it to hide the holster. Patting my pockets, phone, keys, ah wallet, I clipped the chain on and was out the door.

It seemed like a longer drive to get to Charlie's this time since Carlisle wasn't there to harass and distract me. When I pulled into the lot I was starting to get suspicious, the place looked deserted. Sign dark, office dark. I saw a light around to the side so I followed. There was an unmarked metal door painted the same color as the rest of the building. I tried it and went in as I found it unlocked. It must be a delivery door as it led directly onto the shop floor. It was fairly clean for a garage, at least as compared to some of the car mechanic's shops I'd been in. It was a big room longer than it was wide with four stations on each side and bikes in various stages of repair at each station. I could smell the faint scent of coffee and as I walked forward I heard the unmistakable mechanical clicking of a socket wrench. Swan was knelt down next to a bike at one of the far stations, her back to me.

"You probably shouldn't leave your door unlocked you know?"

She didn't turn or jump in surprise at the sound of my voice, just continued tightening the bolt she was working on.

"You really think I didn't know you were there? This is a big room, it echoes, nothing comes in or out of here that I can't hear. " She dropped the wrench into a tool box on the floor in front of her and turned towards me.

"Want some coffee?"

Oh god, I hadn't even had any this morning, I was not going to function well without it, the elixir of life, "Yes please!"

I must have sounded a bit desperate and pathetic because she laughed and said, "C'mon college boy, come sit and we can talk a little. I'll fill you in on some of the stuff you need to know."

She motioned me to follow her and she led back to what looked like an employee only area a couple of rooms between the shop floor and the front office waiting area where we'd had our fantastic first meeting.

She pointed things out as she walked, "Bathroom, storage closet, parts and supplies, my office, the employee break room."

It was a large room with a couch and television, a table with four chairs and a microwave, refrigerator and coffee pot, which she walked over to and poured two cups.

"How do you take it?"

"Black's fine, thanks."

She handed me a cup and turned to the fridge adding cream to hers. I sat down on the leather couch and she picked a chair at the table and turned it to face me. She cradled the cup in a pair of hands already stained with grease for the day and blew across the top of the mug before she took a sip.

"First things. What's your first name, what do you want to be called? Cause whatever I call you the others will follow suit." She looked at me waiting for a response.

"My name is Edward, Edward Masen. Edward is fine. Same goes, what's your name, are you the Charlie at Charlie's." I asked jokingly.

But I noticed when I said it her eyes tightened with an emotion I knew fairly well, pain.

"No, "she said a little too lightly as if she were trying to make it sound like nothing, "no I'm not Charlie. My name's Bella, Bella Swan. I don't know if it is nice to meet you considering the circumstances but I am glad you're here."

Who was this person and what had she done with the ice bitch from yesterday? I had to find out.

"You are? Because I hope this doesn't piss you off but you seem like a totally different person than the one I met yesterday. I got the impression that you thought I was pretty much worthless. I believe the phrase was 'pansy assed college boy' to be specific."

I tried to keep it light because she seemed to be a lot more approachable than yesterday and Carlisle was right. If we couldn't get along the likelihood of the mission succeeding and both of us getting out unscathed was very low. She quirked an eyebrow at me as she took a drink of her coffee and blew out a breath before answering me.

"Well calling me princess like that or saying that to any woman for that matter isn't going to make me like you. You acted like an ass, someone does that to me and I will bitch back, it's that simple. Not only that but yesterday you looked like you had walked out of some frat house on a college campus and right into my shop. Fresh scrubbed right out of the training program. This is not a job for someone like that. Someone like that would get both me and them killed here. I would really like to still be breathing when this is all over. When Carlisle and I talked he told me some things about you and your past. You sound like you know how to get your hands dirty. And I know Carlisle wouldn't bring me someone who couldn't do this. So yes, I am glad that you are here because first of all today you don't look so painfully out of place. You aren't quite dirty enough but we'll fix that." she smiled," And secondly I am truly glad you are here because I want this to be over. I want all the bullshit to stop and there is no way for me to fix this on my own. If I could I would have done so already. But you can fix this. You have the connections and the power to make all this stop and to bring the bastards down. So, yes Edward. I am glad that you're here."

I caught myself staring at her while she spoke; this was obviously something she felt very strongly about. You could tell from the way she spoke but I knew as well because of the fact that she and I both knew that if this whole thing went to shit her life could be forfeit. It meant something to her, something big, to bring these people down.

"So, I am glad that you don't hate my guts and all but introductions aside, we need to get down to business. I need all the intel I can get from you sooner rather than later. Because the more information you can give me, the faster I can integrate and the sooner this is all over with. Is that good for you?" I asked.

She nodded unhappily, "It's hard to talk about the club secrets because I have kept them for so many years but I know that you have to know in order to do this."

I have to try to make this less tough on her, it's going to be hard enough as it is.

"That's okay. I know what it's like to have secrets. I don't exactly broadcast to the world what I do. If I did I might as well walk around with a bull's-eye on my ass." She laughed softly and it broke the tension a bit.

"So let's start with something simple, what's the name of your club?"

She closed her eyes, and leaned her head back, "You would ask that first, okay college bo-erm-Edward. We call ourselves The Volturi."


	3. Chapter 3 The Shop

**Thanks so much to everyone who has read and reviewed or favorited and put me on alert. It makes me happy every time I look at it. I changed the format a little on this chapter, hope that doesn't mess with anyone as I am still getting used to the way the upload on the website works. Hopefully the next chapter will be up next week around this same time. Hope everyone enjoys it. Love to you all.**

**Also I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy....**

Chapter 3 The Shop

_She closed her eyes, and leaned her head back, "You would ask that first, okay college bo---er—Edward. We call ourselves The Volturi."_

**BPOV**

I gritted my teeth. It was so hard to even imagine talking about the club. So many secrets, things that I have kept since I was a child when the club was still so new after Charlie first started it with Aro. I wasn't sure I could do this. It was easier to talk to him and relate, seeing him now with normal clothes, not all scrubbed up shiny as a new penny and looking so clean he squeaked, well except for the hair which could not be called anything other than JBF hair. But, I felt like I was betraying a trust in telling these secrets, in truth, I was. Looking at the time, I realized there were more pressing things that would soon be on their way.

"Edward. I can't talk about this right now. I know that you need me to trust you and tell you all I can but right now, we have another problem looming on the horizon. My other employees will be here very soon and we need to figure out who you are exactly." I said.

His eyes widened as I said this and he ran his fingers through his hair, for the calm and cool FBI agent he sure looked nervous. He seemed like such a contradiction. When we talked about the job he was all business, very serious. But when it came to the shop he seemed nervous, maybe because it was a more intimate setting and he would have to see and lie to these people every day.

"Oh shit. Okay. How many employees do you have exactly? Who does what and what are their names? What am I going to do?" He tossed back the rest of his coffee like it was whiskey that would bolster him and fired off questions one after another.

"Wait. Hold on a minute. Here." I stood up and grabbed a picture off of the refrigerator behind me, "this is everyone."

The picture had been taken when we were at the bar recently celebrating the shop's being open for 10 years. I pointed to each person as I named them off.

"This is Rosalie, Jasper, Leah and Jacob. They are my main mechanics. This is Seth, he is our apprentice. This is Sam, Embry and Quil, they can also fill in as mechanic's but they mainly fabricate and weld. We do some custom metal work but it is in a different building a little ways down the road."

"Who are these other people?" He asked pointing to individuals I hadn't named.

"That's Alice. She's Jasper's wife and our local tattoo artist. Her shop is the next block over. She is our artist extraordinaire and will sometimes help paint bikes if we beg really nicely." I smiled at the description of my best friend. "And these are Ness and Emily, Jacob and Sam's significant other's."

"What happened to her?" He asked pointedly looking at the picture of Emily. "Is it something I need to know about?"

"No. Emily fell through a plate glass window a few years ago. She's in college, was walking with her hands full and she tripped. She couldn't catch herself and her shoulder smashed the window. She nearly died because she lost so much blood, but she pulled through and she and Sam are getting married next year. The scars don't bother her, she knows that she is loved and Sam thinks she is beautiful anyway, but don't stare at her. Especially not if Sam is anywhere nearby, he will get very overprotective and upset." I warned him, and gods help him if he didn't listen to me. "And you will see her here a lot because she is our secretary but she isn't here all the time cause she is still going to school."

"Okay. Is that everybody?" he asked.

"Yes that's everyone."

"Okay. What am I going to do?"

"What do you know about bikes? Cause that will make a big difference here." I asked, hoping desperately that he wasn't totally clueless.

"Bits and pieces. I have been on a bike before but it's been awhile. I know about car engines but not bike engines. I can use an airbrush and I can weld but I don't have any gear. I am a fairly quick learner but I am never going to fool someone into thinking that I am a mechanic for a living." He laid it all bare to me and that was good because it gave me a better idea of where to put him.

"Okay. That is actually better than I was expecting. Carlisle mentioned to me that you liked to draw and that you took some classes in graphic design in school. You are going to be our new designer. When we do customs, which isn't all the time, we need someone to draw things out so we can get a visual and program the plates and designs into the computer. You are going to be that person." I said firmly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Would I not be better suited to being an apprentice?" He asked me totally unashamed. The little boy I met the other day with so much attitude was actually looking really, really anxious. He was truly starting to look kind of green.

"Yes I am sure. You will be working closely with me because I do most of the designing but I don't like computers and I like to get my hands dirty so I have actually been looking for someone to fill this position. Which will be good because then you aren't showing up just out of the blue. Secondly, apprentice in a garage is a synonym for bitch. Seth is a great kid but he puts up with a lot of shit. I don't think that your temper would stand the crap he takes on a daily basis do you?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

He looked down at his coffee cup, "No you're probably right."

"Since you are doing the design stuff, I have arranged with Alice to teach you how to paint. She doesn't have time to do it anymore, her shop is doing too well and she wants to get her piercing certification. So you will be our artist. Painter, designer, and possible welder if we need it, we have spare gear should it become necessary." He looked more hopeful as I said this, like it didn't sound quite so overwhelming.

"Okay. One more thing, actually two more things. One, how did we meet or how did you find me for the job? And two, are all these people Volturi?" He was suddenly serious again looking more comfortable talking about the dangerous side of all this rather than the personal side.

I gulped down the rest of my coffee, wincing at the dregs in the bottom of the cup. I stood and held my hand out for his empty mug and deposited them both in the sink. He was looking at expectantly out of sharp green eyes. _Eyes? Stop thinking about his eyes Bella, his eyes aren't important, what he's here to help you do is important. _

"Bella?" his voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Follow me and I will answer your questions." I started to walk back down the hall to my office which would be our office for the duration of this.

"We met through my friend Harry Clearwater several months ago. He had seen some of your work before and he recommended you to me."

"Won't people ask Harry about this?" he replied quickly.

I stared at him hard. Apparently Carlisle hadn't told him this.

"Harry is dead. He disappeared after a rally last fall." I took a deep breath and continued, "They found his body in the bay a month later."

Edward's face paled and he clenched his fists, "The other contact."

I nodded.

"Do you know what happened to the police officer who was undercover? The one Harry was helping?" he was angry, his jaw clenched while he asked me this.

"No. I have some guesses but I am not going to get into that now. Harry was high up in the group and he noticed things. He always noticed things. That is how he would have seen your work and that is probably what led him to do what he did with the police. He noticed something. But it is good to use his name, if Harry liked you it gives you an in, a leg up and a little more respect than you might have gotten before." I shrugged, and stopped in front of my office door.

"This is my office. For the duration of things it will be our office because this is where the design desk and our best computer are." I opened the door onto the chaos. His eyebrows raised and he laughed.

"You work in _here_?"

"I have a system."

"Not a good one apparently."

"Well you are welcome to try and organize if you like but I make no guarantees that I will stick to any system you might come up with."

"We'll see." He smirked at me. I smiled back. I was surprised, when he wasn't playing up the attitude he was actually a decent person. Maybe we'd be able to work together, I really hoped so. For the sake of my friends and of my own life I really hoped so. With that sobering thought, I answered his other question.

"As for whether or not my friends here are Volturi? Some are and some aren't. Jasper, Rosalie, Alice, Jacob, Leah and Ness are. Sam, Emily, Quil, Embry and Seth aren't. Seth is too young and Leah won't let him near the club, she's his older sister. And there's something else that you should know about Leah and Seth. Harry was their father." Edward blanched when I said this.

"Do they know—" Edward started.

"No. They don't know anything about his work with the police or how he really died. They don't have any idea why that happened to their dad. Honestly, Leah suspects that it might have something to do with a rival club. She actually joined the Volturi in memory of her dad, before they had found his body. But since she has been in, she's seen how rough it can be and she won't let Seth near the group. Which is for the best because things are about to get rougher." I looked at him levelly wondering if he would try to contradict my statement. He didn't, he knew I was right. He actually looked relieved.

"There is just one more thing about your people here that I need to know Bella. Only you are going to know the whole truth of who I am. But I need to know if I can trust these people. When we are with the group I know that I need to be on guard. But Carlisle said that since you know everyone so well that you would be able to give me a better idea of who to watch out for and who might be sympathetic to us. So I need to know how closely I need to watch my back here."

He was looking me dead in the eye as he said this. I felt a lot of pressure because how well do you really know someone? But I tried to answer him as honestly as I could.

"Edward. I trust these people with my life. They are my closest friends and companions both in and out of the group. There isn't anyone here who I couldn't turn to and ask for help if I needed it. The people in the club who I have suspicions about don't work here, not a one of them. That doesn't mean that you won't ever see them here. There are couriers who will stop by and bring us announcements and business from the club. Most of the club members are here from time to time because we work on all of their bikes. I will try to let you know if there is someone important here but remember that I need to be careful too because the club is very secretive. You aren't on red alert when you are here but still tread lightly. You never know when you might be talking to a customer who could be Volturi. There won't been any outward signs." I explained to him.

I hated all the secrecy that was surrounding my friends. Everything the club did had changed even the policies concerning our colors. You don't see anyone wearing their colors unless they are on official business or we are going to a rally. It didn't used to be like that. Your colors are supposed to be a point of pride. Most bikers wear them all the time. But since things changed in the group everything is secret. No one is supposed to know anything and you can't talk to outsiders. I looked at Edward as he processed what I said. He opened his mouth like he was about to ask me another question but then we both jumped when the ringing of the front door of the shop broke the silence.

"That will be the first of my people arriving for the day. We'll have to talk more later. Just let me do the talking when I introduce you to people." I said firmly.

He looked at me and smirked again, "Whatever you say boss!"

**EPOV**

This morning at Charlie's was one of the most stressful I have had in a long time. All the information she laid on me was a lot to take in, and there was still so much more that I needed to know. I was nervous to meet all of her employees. So many names and faces to remember. I was glad that not every single person was a member of the club. I wouldn't have to watch some of them quite as closely as the rest. Despite Bella's trust in them, I still had to try to look at them objectively. Someone had betrayed Harry Clearwater and gotten the man and the police officer he had been helping killed. Someone central within the club most likely since Bella had mentioned Harry being an important figure within the group as well. I wondered exactly what Bella's role in the group was and how she seemed to hold such a key position. Being caretaker of all the group member's bikes was an important task. It showed that they had a lot of trust in her as well.

"Edward!!"

Bella's voice broke my train of thought. When I looked up she had an annoyed look on her face and it was clear she had been trying to get my attention for some time.

"I hope that you were visualizing the design you are working on in your head and not just daydreaming." She arched an eyebrow at me. Since her employee's started filing in for the day the slightly warmer person I had seen this morning had faded a little bit. She was closer to being the ball breaker I had met the first day. It could be because she was in charge of an extremely loud and boisterous crew, I thought back to our introductions this morning….

When people started coming in Bella had shoved me into her office and told me to stay there until she came to get me. I resented being set aside like that but I tried to be open minded and assume that she had a reason for it. I took the time that I was in the office to try and clean up the space I would be working in, her office was atrocious.

It was a medium sized rectangular room with the door in one of the long walls and a small couch facing the door. At either end of the room on each of the short walls was a desk. One covered in papers with invoice numbers and price quotes I assumed was Bella's. The other contained a fairly new looking computer and was covered in stacks of drawings showing whole bikes and sometimes close ups of individual pieces like the tanks and fenders and exhaust. I started with my desk and stacked papers trying to put pictures that seemed to be of the same bikes together and pulling out file folders so that they could be more organized. I also tried to put all the odds and ends, colored pencils, pens and markers into the empty cup on the desk that by the ink residue in the bottom was obviously meant to be holding them. I booted up the computer and looked at the graphic design program that they had installed on the desktop. It was a similar version to the one I had spent a lot of time training on in school.

Graphic design. Of all the things in the world that I needed for an assignment this was the one thing. I hadn't wanted to study it in school. I had wanted to focus solely on the law enforcement classes but Carlisle who already knew that I liked to draw had made me take some classes outside of the law enforcement curriculum. He had told me, "What you want to do isn't easy kid. You have already had a tough time and not everyone makes it through the academy. You need to have something that you enjoy to fall back on. And you never know when you might use these skills in the future." Prophetic words. He could not have designed this job more perfectly to drive that point home.

When Bella finally came and got me from her office she had obviously called some sort of staff meeting, she actually told me later that they started each day in the break room together kind of meeting to get an idea of who was working on what and where they were on different projects. So instead of meeting everyone individually I got the trial by fire and got to meet everyone at once. When she brought me into the room everyone was talking and laughing, drinking coffee, chilling in various poses throughout the room. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly cutting through the noise. All the faces in the room were suddenly turned towards Bella and they quickly focused past her onto me. My training kicked in taking away my nerves. I could afford to be nervous when it was just Bella and I this morning. Now I had to be "on," I had to be the person I was supposed to be. Edward the new designer.

"Hey guys, good morning. This is Edward Masen. He is going to be taking over the position of designer that I have been looking for. He may also, if he ends up having the chops for it, be our new painter after a training session with Alice. But we'll see on that front. So come up here and introduce yourselves and play nice with the new guy." She turned and started for the door after she said this, then added as an afterthought over her shoulder, "Oh and if I hear anything about any 'welcome to Charlie's' pranks I'll know exactly who to blame Jake."

The large Native American man that I remembered from the picture Bella had showed me laughed and looked chagrined. He then got up and sort ambled over to me.

"Hey I'm Jacob. Good to meet you man." He held out his hand to me and I took it.

"Good to meet you. So I guess I should watch out for you huh?" I asked him.

"Well I might have played some pranks on people in the past, but I'll try to let you have a few weeks to settle in before I try anything. Besides it's easier to get you if I know you better. Have to find the weak spots." He grinned.

"Um thanks I guess." He laughed and wandered out the door into the shop.

The rest of the people came through and pretty much just shook my hand and said their names.

"Rosalie." Wow.

"Leah."

"Jasper."

"Emily." She smiled warmly when she shook my hand and it was as if her scars disappeared when she did so. Despite what had happened to her, obviously Emily was okay with who she was, scars and all. She walked to the front of the shop where the desk and waiting area was to answer a phone that was already ringing.

That was everyone who was there that morning. Apparently everyone else was at the metal shop or their respective jobs. I would probably meet them later. Not knowing where to head next, I walked back to the office to find Bella standing in the doorway staring at the room. She glanced back over her shoulder and saw me, and just shook her head.

"I leave you alone in here for what, 10, 20 minutes and already you are trying to organize me."

"I said that I might mess with your system."

"Well, we'll see how long it stays like this. The chaos is because of the craziness of the job, not because of me." She said.

I smirked, "Sure it is."

She folded her arms over her chest and looked at me, "Well college boy, let's get started."

From there she set me to work designing exhaust systems on 3 bikes they were already working on and inputting the dimensions into the computer system so they could get a 3-D model. She then had me inputting designs into the computer that had already been done. There was a back log of them from the last six months. She hadn't been kidding when she said that she didn't like the computer. After that she had me doing free form designs for two new bikes that they were working on. I knew coming in here that I was going to be doing two jobs. My actual job and the one that I was doing for Bella, but at this rate I was going to be worn out pretty fast. I was thinking about the club and the information I needed when Bella got my attention.

"Edward!"

"I came in here to see if you wanted to join us for lunch. We ordered pizza, it's in the break room. Knock off for awhile and come eat. You must be hungry." She said when I'd finally focused on her.

I leaned back in my chair and stretched. Scratching my head I turned and answered her, "Yeah thanks, that would be great. I've been so busy I didn't even think about lunch."

She leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms. "Sorry about that. We had a lot of backlog. It will get better once you get through with that. You will have more time to spend on design, though it might get a little busy again once you meet Alice and see if you can learn how to paint."

I groaned. Her faced flushed a little.

"Sorry Edward but we're a small shop and nearly everyone has multiple jobs. "

"No it's fine. I am used to having multiple jobs. It's just going to take some getting used to."

"Well c'mon and eat. You'll get a chance to talk to everyone one and get to know them all better." She raised her eyebrows significantly at me.

"Sounds good. Lead the way boss lady."

She turned and walked back towards the break room where my morning had started. Like this morning everyone was already there and there was some staring when I entered the room. Except this time the previously absent Sam, Quil, Embry and Seth were there. I grabbed my pizza up and tried to figure out where to sit. It was almost like high school, the four women, sat at the table talking quietly while the men were arranged in the chairs and on the couch eating impossibly large amounts of pizza while discussing the basketball game on the TV loudly. It was real obvious which group I was supposed to join. So I snagged a chair from by the wall and pulled it over to the men's group and prepared for the 3rd degree.

I wasn't wrong. But as I greeted the men I hadn't yet met and answered their questions, I glanced over at the women's table. By the covert glances I was receiving and the animated talking it appeared that Bella was getting her own version of the 3rd degree.


	4. Chapter 4 Communication Errors

**I'm so sorry for making everyone wait so long for this chapter. Last week was my birthday and I had a week full of epic fail at work that kicked my ass, I am sorry. Hopefully this will help. I hope it's decent I struggled with this one a bit. Thank you to everyone who has favorited and put me on alert, it makes me squee every time I see it. **

**Also I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy....**

Chapter 4 Communication Errors

_By the covert glances I was receiving and the animated talking it appeared that Bella was getting her own version of the 3__rd__ degree. _

**BPOV**

I studied Edward as he went to take a seat with the guys where they sat eating lunch and watching the game. I wished rather sadly that I could go join them and escape the interrogation that I was currently undergoing from my girls.

Rose was watching me looking at him; she was the first to dive in.

"So this new Edward guy. He's interesting."

"Yeah?" I said refusing to rise to the bait, "How so?"

"Weeeelllll, let me see. Tall, check, scruffy, check, good body, check. Damn good looking, yet another check." She leaned towards me and raised her brows, "If it weren't for the fact that he is so not my type I would try for a piece of that."

Emily looked up from her salad and smiled, "Rose how can you even tell what his body is like under those clothes?"

"What can I say it's a gift. Bella can tell us later if I'm right." She smirked.

I nearly choked on the Coke I was drinking.

"Bitch what makes you think that I want anything to do with that man other than professionally? All I did was hire him. From the way you talk part of the interview process must have been conducted on my couch!" I said angrily. "Besides you don't even have a type. Big, muscled and stupid is not a type."

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall when Rose boots them in ass." Leah put in.

"If you two aren't careful I am going to tell every single man I see at the bar on Friday that you two are pair of man hating ball breaking bitches who like to crush testicles are part of your daily workout regimen." I threatened.

Rose gave me a pouty face and rolled her eyes but Leah shot back, "Don't think you have anyone fooled. You'd have to include yourself in the description missy! "

"And Alice."

"And Ness."

"What about me?" Emily said laughingly. "Don't I get to be included in these hallowed halls?"

Rose, Leah and I looked at each other and finally I said, "Emily honey. You don't have to break balls cause you already have Sam's in your pocket. You might take them out and caress them from time to time but you aren't going to be breaking his balls anytime soon. Not that you need to either."

Emily covered her mouth as she laughed with her mouth full. She swallowed finally and had to admit, "This is true. He's usually pretty good." She shook her finger at us. "But don't think that just because I like to caress them doesn't mean I can't haul his ass over the coals when he deserves it."

Rose, ever the wise ass said, "Honey we all like to caress balls, we just don't get to as often as you do."

Liar, liar, liar, I thought at Rose.

Leah coughed and said, "Bullshit!"

I laughed and Rose narrowed her eyes.

"But speaking of my favorite ball breakers, I can't wait to hear what Alice has to say about the new guy."

I sipped my soda and said nonchalantly, "What makes you think she hasn't already met him? She agreed to teach him how to paint."

Rose snorted. "Please. If Alice had seen him she would have squeed so loud the entire block would have heard her. She has been trying to find someone for you since you and dickface broke it off."

I grimaced at the mention of my ex. "Yeah well, I have been alone since I was with dickface for a reason. I will not fall prey to anymore two faced assholes. He got what he wanted and he turned out to be someone I wouldn't allow to lick my boots much less be with."

Rose shifted uncomfortably. The subject of my ex was not one that anyone liked to think about. It made us all angry. Not at me for having been with him but at him for who he turned out to be. He had betrayed us all in so many ways.

Leah brushed the moment of uncomfortable silence aside. "Anyway. I was thinking of getting a belly ring. Since we still have some time till we have to be back do you want to go down to the shop to look with me Rose?"

She opened her eyes very wide trying to portray some bullshit innocence as though I didn't know the reason they wanted to go there was for gossip.

Rose gave me the same wide eyed look, "Why yes Leah I would. I believe my back piece needs touching up anyway." She blinked at me innocently.

I waved them off. "Whatever gossip mongers. Just remember to get your asses back here before one."

They gathered up their plates and cups, stacked stuff in the sink and wandered out the door. I looked over at the guys; they seemed absorbed in the game. Edward fit in with them so well. Not as though he looked like them but like a piece in a puzzle, he fit in, made the picture more complete.

Emily touched my arm bringing me out of my musings and said, "What do you really think of him Bella?"

I had to think for a second how to respond. It was easier to lie, to pretend with the girls when they were being loud and brash. How do I figure out what to say about a man I barely know? It was so much harder to conceal with Emily because she saw so much, Alice unfortunately would be the same way. So in the end I went with the truth.

"I don't know yet Em. He seems like a nice guy. Competent and organized. But I don't know him yet, not enough."

"That's true. Well, the girls just want you to be happy, you know that." She paused and her eyes sparkled with mischief when she added, "He is cute though."

I leaned back in my chair and groaned, "Not you too Em."

"Sorry Bells." She giggled. "There's just something about him. I think he has potential."

I watched as across the room Edward laughed at something Jake said.

Potential…

**EPOV**

The next few days went by quickly, spent much like my first day. I used up a lot of time on the computer inputting designs that had already been done and uploading them to the shop's website where people could view them, check on progress or get ideas for what they might want for a bike of their own. I also did a lot of designing and drawing freehand. Once I got the idea of a bike in my head it flowed out onto paper pretty well. The one problem I had was that I didn't always know what was possible to do within the design and engine layout of a bike, that's where Bella came in. After I had finished with a design she would come look it over and tell me if it was something they could do or if it was a little too out there and I would tailor the design to include her comments and suggestions.

It was an interesting if tiring couple of days, but it was also extremely frustrating because I had not yet learned anything more about the club or Bella. She had not called me in early again as she had the first morning telling me that I could come in at 9am with everyone else. The shop was open until 6pm officially but people often stayed later finishing up projects so that they could start on something else the following day. Everyone continued to be nice to me though I didn't learn much information from them either about the club or Bella. I wasn't pushing, mostly just listening for stray bits but they were very closed mouthed.

I knew I wouldn't get much out of them about the club and Bella was supposed to be my main source so I was trying to find out more about her. She was holding me at arms length not telling me anything more than I had already learned. Her friends seem equally evasive when I tried to find out more about Bella. I tried to sound causally interested and got shot down. When I tried to sound seriously interested as though I wanted to date her, under the guise of learning more about her of course, I got shot down and given a warning. Jasper, who was always kind of quiet and serious, told me after I had asked about Bella's family and if she was seeing someone that I needed to watch my step in that area. He said that it was a sore subject with all of them. I wasn't sure why this information mattered to them but I would hopefully find out and soon.

"Wake up college boy, no day dreaming on the job." Bella's voice brought me back to earth as she walked into the office. Try as I might, I still couldn't break her of calling me that, it annoyed the crap out of me.

"I was just thinking about my _job_, "I said, "and how it doesn't seem to be going anywhere."

Bella's eyes narrowed, she knew what I meant. She closed the door to the office behind her and shut the blinds.

"Look Edward I know that you want to get things moving here but it is going to take some time. You have to earn people's trust."

I ran a frustrated hand through my hair as I swiveled my desk chair to face where she had leaned against the door. I looked at her hard.

"Are you talking about them or are you talking about yourself, because you haven't been very forthcoming with information either. You came to us Bella. You came to the bureau and wanted to help, you said that you knew things, that you had important information. You need to start talking to me because I can't do my job when I am blind."

Bella avoided my eyes. She fiddled with her wallet chain and became very interested in the grease under her nails. Finally she blew out a breath and said sarcastically, "Listen here college boy, you can't come in here and expect me to just—"

"Stop fucking calling me that."

Her gaze snapped to mine. I glared at her and she glared back at me.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" she asked me incredulously.

I gritted my teeth, "You heard me. Stop fucking calling me that. You don't know shit about me. Just from what Carlisle fucking told you or what maybe you read out of my file. You don't know a goddamn thing about me so maybe if you would stop judging me every time you open your fucking mouth we could get somewhere."

Bella's eyes were wide but she sneered at me and said, "I'm sure that you had such a tough life. Fucked up little boy, acting out against what mommy and daddy said. In and out of trouble but you got bailed out in time didn't you? You met Carlisle and then everything came up roses. Good for you."

My hands were white around the knuckles from clenching my fists. It was taking every ounce of willpower I had not to start yelling at her and putting my fist through the wall. I took a deep breath and another, they weren't really helping, but I managed to stutter out at her something that most people who meet me never hear.

"Bitch my parents are both dead. And I would trade everything to change that. My education, my job, the friendship with Carlisle, every goddamn thing to be able to see them again. To have them know that just because I spent a good portion of my younger life fucking up, that I didn't stay that way. That I learned better. You keep your mouth off my family because you don't know anything about me."

Bella's face paled the minute I said my parents were dead. I saw the same pain that I had seen cross her face before when I asked if she was Charlie. I was so angry I couldn't even look at her. I had to get a better handle on my temper. There was no way in the world that I could go off like this in public. I would get us all killed.

There was no sound in the office but my harsh breathing for several minutes. After awhile Bella cleared her throat.

"Edward. I'm sorry. I didn't know about your family. I know what it's like to lose someone like that."

I kept staring at the framed drawing of a Triumph motorcycle hanging on the wall. I wasn't really seeing it. Just trying to hold onto my temper and not tell her where she could shove her apology.

"Please look at me. I don't want to apologize to the back of your head."

I swiveled to gaze at her slowly. She blanched when she saw my face. I must have looked bad.

"I'm sorry." She said again. "I know that I need to start trusting you. Part of the problem here is that last time I trusted someone they ruined my life. And I'm not joking. Not in the slightest."

I sighed. "Bella you know that is not what I am here to do. I don't have nasty underlying motives. I am here to help you, you need to remember that. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't contacted Carlisle."

She sat down in the chair across from me.

"I know. And sometimes my mouth runs away with me. I am used to being kinda brash, a ball breaker just like I warned you that Rose and Leah are. I have to be like that Edward. It's not just running herd on the crew around here. It's the club. Females in the group are not seen very well. I have fought tooth and nail to keep my position in the club and not be turned into just another doss, another piece of arm candy. There aren't a lot of women in the club who can speak, who are listened to. And if I don't bust their balls then they will walk all over me. I can't allow that."

"So where to we go from here?" I asked her.

Her smile flashed briefly and she opened her mouth to talk when all of the sudden a loud thump sounded on the door, followed by Rose's voice yelling, "Bella are you coming? We have been waiting for 20 minutes. Alice is gonna throw a shit fit if we don't get over there for the sitting!!"

I could see her shed the seriousness of our conversation like a coat and once again become the bold and defiant woman she was around the shop.

She got up and jerked the door open just as Rose's fist was raised to knock a second time.

"Can I help you?" She asked with a sardonically raised eyebrow.

Rose smirked. "I assume you heard me but if you are too busy to come for your sitting I can always tell Alice that the new designer is taking up your time right now." She arched one perfect blond eyebrow at Bella and threw her a look that held a great deal of promise and implication.

Bella looked at me over her shoulder and gave me one slow wink before she turned back to Rose and said brightly, "No thanks hon. I'll just bring Edward with me. We were so busy with the design we were discussing, I don't think he will mind making a little detour to Alice's so we can continue."

Rose's mouth dropped open momentarily and then closed with a snap.

She turned on her heel and clicked down the hallway on pair of bright red fuck me shoes. How she worked on bikes like that I will never understand, but that's Rose. As she walked away I could hear her mumble under her breath, "Oh I can't wait to see this."

……

A few minutes later Bella and I were walking around to the back the shop to her personal garage. This was where she kept her bikes and did some personal work on them. It wasn't huge but when she raised the door I saw that it was stuffed full with bikes. Almost wall to wall with about 8 different bikes, several of them covered in tarps.

"Are all these yours?" I asked, surprised that she had so many.

"Yeah," she said kind of ruefully, "they are now."

Before I could ask what she meant, she flipped back the tarp on one of the covered bikes and my attention was suddenly diverted.

I liked bikes, don't get me wrong and some of the ones I had been designing this week had been pretty kick ass but I had never seen anything like this. It just looked fast and kind of angry. The bike was blood red and big with long arching handle bars that allowed the rider to sit back comfortably rather than being hunched over the tank. It had a huge back tire with customized painting on the tank and fenders and old fashioned crisscrossing spokes in the tires that had been chromed so bright they were damn near blinding. I was staring at it, probably drooling, when I realized that Bella was calling my name, trying to get my attention, probably for several minutes now.

"What-er sorry, um…..That's just fucking spectacular." I finally managed to stammer out.

When I looked over at her she was really grinning, it was the first time I had seen her smile like that, without anything holding her back, she looked so much younger, so beautiful.

"Yeah, she's pretty damn amazing isn't she? I had a similar reaction the first time I saw her." She said gesturing at the bike.

"Her?" I asked. I wouldn't have guessed the bike was a female.

"Yeah. This is the first bike that we ever finished. She's named Renee, after my mom. She's yours for the day."

"Your mom….wait what do you mean mine for the day? I can't ride that bike Bella, I haven't been on one in years, I could lay it down and fuck it up. I don't want to hurt the bike."

She brushed that aside with an impatient hand motion. And started easing the bike out of the garage as I followed her still protesting.

"Edward. Bikes are meant to be ridden. I can't give all of these the love they deserve. If you lay her down then you will help me fix her up. She is an easy ride, simple to drive though not simple to start. You are going to have to do it cause I'm not heavy enough to get the kick start going."

"Are we ready? What are you going to ride?" I asked her.

She walked over to another bike that was not covered. It looked like her personal bike. It had a red jacket that matched the bike and two helmets sitting on the seat, she tossed one at me.

"Safety first. Before we really go riding seriously we are going to have to get you some leathers. For now this will be okay. " She slid her helmet on and eased her bike out of the garage.

"This is my everyday lady. I have something bigger and nastier that I ride when we go out with the club but this lady has some good get up and go. We are going to Alice's shop. I have a sitting for her to work on one of my tattoos and you need to meet her so we can set up a time for her to teach you painting. And maybe we can get some ink on you as well."

I smirked at her. "What makes you think I don't have any?"

"We'll see." She turned the key on her bike and it roared to life. Then walked over to me and said, "You can't ride the bike if you don't get on it Edward."

I approached the bike with some trepidation. It looked expensive and I felt like I might damage it just by being near it. I took a deep breath and swung my leg over the back and sat, it had a comfortable seat but I felt nervous. Bella came around and stood in front of my handle bars. She tapped the gears.

"Brake, clutch, gas. Do you need to know anything else?"

"How do I start it?"

"It's a kick start Edward. You basically stomp on that pedal down there once you have given it some gas. It's sort of like starting a manual car that doesn't have fuel injection. Have you ever done that?"

"Yes."

"Then let's see it. Give it a go." She gestured to the bike.

I ran through the steps and kicked the starter, the bike roared to life.

"Okay ease off there hero. We want her to purr not to growl.."

I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. She stared straight back at me, then turned and swaggered over to her bike; she slid onto it sinuously and turned to look back at me.

"Put your helmet on slick and let's see if you can keep up." She flicked the visor on her helmet down and spun her bike around throwing gravel at me and flying down the driveway.

I shoved my helmet on and flew after her, riding the bike seemed effortless. It handled well and unlike other bikes I had been on the ride was smooth, not jerky or bumpy.

We ran down the road for a few blocks and then Bella turned right down a small, thin alleyway that I wouldn't have seen had I not been following her. She pulled the bike to a stop in a small gravel lot that obviously ran behind some of the businesses that faced the road. She was turning her bike off as I slid in beside her.

"You're right." I said once the bike engines had both died, "It is an easy ride."

She nodded as she pulled off her helmet. "I know my girls. So Edward, what do you think?"

She gestured towards the building and I looked around at where we were finally. The gravel strip ran behind all the buildings on the road as sort of a back parking area, most of the businesses had it partitioned dividing their various lots with cement highway dividers or orange cones etc. This lot was a little different. The gravel was combed out and there was no garbage littering the ground. And damn if there weren't manicured shrubs in great big pots separating the lot from its neighbors. They were carefully clipped into perfect squares, circles and even heart shapes. There was one that had to have taken hours to do that was actually almost a spiral. The large brick building was clean and lit up from the outside with spot lights on a large painted sign that said Intuitive Ink.

"Looks interesting."

"This is Alice's place. You have obviously already met Jasper, they have been married for just under two years. Alice is an artist. She creates, whatever she can get her hands on, but ink is her real passion. She likes creating pieces that mean something to people. She gets by doing some of the more boring pieces like butterflies, faeries and astrological signs, the simple stuff that the college students want but she loves big pieces, the kind she can spend hours on and the person comes away with a masterpiece."

"She sounds interesting. She is part of club you said."

Bella tucked her helmet under her arm and turned to face me. Her expression was all business.

"She is Edward and don't let her fool you because she is just as tough as Rose and Leah and I. But be careful with Alice. She knows things. She has some of the best instincts you will ever see and sometimes she sees things that people would rather stay hidden. That's why I have been avoiding you meeting her, because you will need to be very careful with Alice."

She pushed through the door and walked down a hallway that was painted a bright eye blinding purple. I'm not sure where this color came from cause I am pretty sure it doesn't exist in nature. I followed her into the brightly lit interior of the shop; it was covered in murals framed by borders painted right on the walls. There were three chairs, a desk with a drafting table behind it and a small waiting area. Another short hallway led to three doors labeled office, bathroom and private. I wondered what the private room was, maybe for piercings or tattoos in certain areas.

Rose was seated in the waiting area and I saw Leah standing with her back to us while a voice I didn't recognize was saying, "Yeah Leah I think that the belly ring looks good. There is no sign of infection; you are taking good care of it. Maybe in another week or two it should be healed enough that you can change it. Fiddle with the piercing and put something sparkly or more interesting in."

Rose looked up from her magazine and her lips quirked as she saw Bella and I walking in.

"Hey Bella and _EDWARD_." She said my name and emphasized it loudly.

Leah pulled her shirt down quickly and I saw a small dark haired body pop up from in front of her and come flying over to Bella attaching to her in something like a hug or maybe an attempt to strangle her. Bella just laughed and extracted herself from the clutches of the tiny woman who turned to face me and I could tell was seconds away from giving me the same treatment.

"Edward meet my best friend and our local resident artist extraordinaire, Alice." She said sweeping her hand out to acknowledge Alice as though she were showing her off like a model on the Price is Right.

My second glance at Alice when I could see her beyond the blurring dynamo was one of a small woman with dark spiky hair and wide golden eyes. Her eyes were amused and calculating, obviously taking stock of me as I was of her. My next glance was one of shock as I noticed what she was wearing. Alice had on a black halter top and I could see tattoos curling over her shoulder from her back and sides. She had tattoos on each wrist and some running up and down her legs which were mostly uncovered by one of the smallest pairs of shorts in existence, despite the fact that it was maybe 45 degrees out today and rainy Seattle as usual. The tattoos wrapped around her lower legs and disappeared into a pair of high heeled bitch boots with a chair around the ankle. She had on bright red lipstick and looked like a man eater. No wonder Jasper was so quiet, this woman was loud just standing there saying nothing. Then she opened her mouth and just about stopped my heart with her greeting.

"Hello Edward. It is so nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you." She glanced over her shoulder at Rose. "Bella doesn't usually bring boyfriends to meet me unless things are serious and after the last one she hasn't brought me anyone for quite some time. I am so glad that you found each other!!"

And she threw her arms around me giving me the same hug/strangulation treatment she gave Bella when we came in. I could only pat her back absently because my mind was stuck on one word,

_Boyfriend_?


	5. Chapter 5 The Truth

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews so far, I read and squee at every single one and I appreciate them so much. Sorry this chapter took a little longer RL got in the way.**

**Also I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy....**

_I could only pat her back absently because my mind was stuck on one word,_

_Boyfriend?_

Chapter 5 The Truth

**BPOV**

When Alice said the word boyfriend all the blood drained out of Edward's face and he looked like someone had just slapped him in the back of the head. I could feel a similar stricken look on my face, mental note I need to kill these bitches later, they will pay for embarrassing me like this. But since Alice was still doing her hug/strangle on Edward and he was awkwardly patting her back looking really confused I had to do something to diffuse the situation so I pulled my bravado out of my boots and snorted sarcastically.

"Don't look so horrified Edward; they are just fucking with you. If I am dating someone Alice is usually one of the first people they meet because she likes to think she is the all knowing all seeing omnipotent tat goddess." I said while throwing a look over my shoulders at both Leah and Rose that I am hoping said you bitches are in for it later. Leah had the grace to look guilty, Rose just gave me a shit eating grin.

Edward finally managed to extract himself from Alice looking far less pale.

"Yeah I heard that you all like to play jokes on people. I was warned about Jake, not so much about the ladies here but apparently you are the one's I need to watch out for." He said still laughing a little nervously.

Alice smirked at me, and glomped onto me again whispering in my ear, "I like him, I think he will be good for you."

I rolled my eyes at her.

Her eyes narrowed, "You may not appreciate my sense of humor missy but you had best behave because you will soon be under my needle!"

I waved her off, "Please woman that is an empty threat. I have a high pain tolerance and you are too nice to try and hurt someone who is covering themselves with one of your art pieces."

"Too true." She murmured looking pouty. Alice suddenly brightened and began dragging me towards the car at the front of the shop.

"Let's get started I want to see if I can finish today so that your back piece will finally be done!"

Alice could never wait for a piece of her art to be done, she got so excited to see the finished product, to see if it turned out on skin the way she had drawn it or seen it in her head. She was dragging me a long so quickly I didn't have the time to look or even think about what Edward was doing and how he was recovering from the girl's prank. He was a professional hopefully he could roll with things once he got over the initial surprise.

I was listening to everything Alice was saying with half a mind about tattoo aftercare and what she would be working on with my back piece today and everything was just kind of going along smoothly until she handed me a pink towel.

I blinked at it stupidly my eyebrows furrowing together, "What is this for Alice?"

She looked at me and then her eyes turned pointedly towards Edward as she hissed at me, "I am working on finishing the scene in the middle of your back and the edges on your ribs today. That is for you to cover up with!"

Oh shit. Oh well I guess.

"Alright, I will go take off my shirt. Talk to Edward and be nice and please do not fuck with his head anymore." I hissed at her.

She gave me the pouty face, "Aww Bella you're no fun. How am I supposed to set you up if I don't learn more about him?"

I glared at her, "I do not need you to hook me up Alice if I want a man I will get one myself."

She waved me off, "Uh-huh sure whatever, go strip you hussy."

I flipped her off as I strolled back to the bathroom passing Edward who looked at me with a confused face. I shrugged at him and kept going, I was feeling my way in the dark with this game of pretend, he might as well be doing it with me.

Once I got in the bathroom and shrugged out of my shirt I started to have some serious misgivings. I had to go out in the shop, in front of Edward with no shirt on. Not that he might see anything thanks to Alice's privacy towel but still. No one else would be coming in because Alice closed the shop when she worked on me so I didn't have to worry about some random stranger walking in while I was topless, but now here I had to walk out into the room with a guy I barely knew standing there. A guy who my friends seemed bound and fucking determined to set me up with.

Shit. Oh well.

I peeled off my bra and left that and my shirt hanging on the back of the door. I wrapped the towel across my chest and took a deep breath before I walked back into the room; this was going to be interesting…

**EPOV**

When Bella told me that her friends were just screwing with my head I was so relieved I almost felt light headed. I was not ready for that at all. I could roll with things but I was not prepared to get side swiped, oh well I guess it was good practice for later when I could not afford to let anything surprise me. I stood there recovering while Alice and Bella were whispering animatedly and Leah and Rose were still giggling although quietly about the joke and the look on my face. I gave them a bland look and they just snickered more.

Bella walked past me looking annoyed and went into one the rooms at the back of the store, she was holding bright pink towel. She actually looked more than annoyed she looked kind of pissed. It took me a minute to realize what she was doing and by the time I processed it she was walking out of the bathroom sans shirt with nothing but a towel held over her breasts. My brain just froze.

She swaggered out of the bathroom as though trying to cover up the fact that she was half naked in front of me with bravado, trying to show that she didn't care. I am sure that my eyes popped wide when she lay down on Alice's table and had to adjust the towel. I tried not to stare, I am sure I failed miserably.

Underneath her grubby shop clothes Bella had one tight beautiful body. Good sized breasts from what I could see not too big not too small, a tiny waist that curved down into luscious hips and a round perky ass that disappeared into her blue jeans which despite the belt hung low on her hips from the weight of her wallet and chain. It was when she laid down that I finally snapped out of my daze and got a good look at the tattoo that Alice was working on, one giant tattoo that covered her entire back.

Bella had a forest at twilight on her back. Dark silhouettes of trees flared out up her shoulders and the roots and grasses twined around her ribs. Across her shoulders peeking out from the trees was the moon, showing all the different phases from twilight to the break of dawn. You could almost see the sparkle of snow on the ground and within the trees you could get the impression of glowing eyes and the shapes of animals, wild things like wolves and mountain lions.

A large tree was the center, an old tree with the impression of initials carved into it, r.s. plus c.s. within a heart. Alice was finishing up the tree, adding more details highlights and outlines making some things brighter and others to stand out more. Then Bella rolled onto her side and I was distracted again, in order to not stare like some kind of fucking pervert I wandered the shop, looking at Alice's books of flash and studying the murals on the wall. She was an incredibly talented artist. Some of the things I saw gave me an idea, about a tattoo I might want. I had some ink already, despite Bella's assumptions but not all of it was very good quality. Some of it had been done by people who were so far from being a professional tattoo artist it was almost laughable, things I'd had done when I was in juvie as a kid. Stupid mistakes that I should have had lasered off or covered up years ago. I came back to myself when I realized that Bella was sitting Alice having rubbed something on her back to help the tattoos and wrapping her up to keep from bleeding on her clothes. When Bella walked back to the bathroom to put her shirt on and Alice was cleaning up her instruments I spoke up.

"Hey Alice, do you have much experience doing cover ups?" I asked her.

She looked at me measuringly and said slowly, "It depends on the piece. I am hesitant to cover up someone else's work but I'd have to see what you wanted covered and we could design to work."

Unmindful of Rose and Leah who were sitting quietly against the wall and I could feel watching every moment of this exchange I unbuttoned my shirt and pulled my undershirt over my head.

"I'd like to have this covered. It was something that was done mostly to me rather than for me when I was a kid in trouble all the time. I am not sure exactly what I am wanting but I hate this damn thing and all it represents and I want it covered the hell up."

Alice walked closer to me and eyed the poorly drawn playing card that marred the left side of my chest.

She rolled her eyes as she looked at it, "That's awful Edward, where the hell did you have that done? It looks like a jailhouse tattoo."

I was about to answer in the affirmative when a soft voice from behind me beat me to the punch, "It is." I heard Bella say.

Alice poked her head around my shoulder to gaze at Bella curiously.

"How do you know Bells?"

"He told me. When Edward interviewed for the job, he was up front about the fact that he spent most of the time when he was a kid being a fuck up. He got that tat in juvie I would guess. And I would also guess that he didn't have a whole lot of choice in getting that either." She said this softly, she looked tired as though the session had taken a lot out of her.

"You're right, on both counts. It was done in juvie in the middle of the night because some asshole thought he ran the place and he was older and stronger than I was. And if I didn't get marked in some way and prove my supposed loyalty I wasn't going to live through the night." I turned to reach for my shirt and heard a gasp behind me. Alice was staring at my back.

"Edward what happened to you?" she asked looking horrified.

I knew my back looked bad, I hadn't thought about it being exposed when I turned. Bella hadn't said anything and she had been standing behind me the whole time either she didn't care or maybe she'd seen worse than the scars I had.

I pulled my undershirt down quickly and tried to think of an answer as I hurried to button my other shirt.

"Well Alice like Bella said, I fucked up a lot as a kid, got in with some not great people and shit happened. Some of it left marks."

She didn't look convinced and she opened her mouth to comment when Bella's tired voice said, "Al let it drop. We all have scars we don't like to talk about."

Alice's gaze sharpened when she looked past me to Bella. A look of concern came over her face.

"Are you okay Bella? I know sessions can take a lot out of you. Do you want me to give you a ride back?"

Bella shook her head. "No I'll be fine Al. Girls," she said getting Rose and Leah's attention, "Go ahead and knock off for the day, it's getting late and I doubt there's much more to be done at the shop right now that can't wait until tomorrow. Edward and I will take the bikes back and we'll see you tomorrow."

They waved at Bella, nodded at me and wandered kind of absently out the front door, a few minutes later I heard the roar of bikes engines and then they faded away rather quickly. Alice went up to Bella and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Since I can't hug you cause I know it would hurt. Heal up quickly you can only go so long without meeting your quota of my hugs, otherwise you could get sick, they have healing powers." She nodded solemnly.

Bella laughed, "No worries Al, you know I heal quickly."

She looked at me, "C'mon Masen lets get the bikes back to the shop so that we can close up for the night and you can go home. Have a good night Al, I'll call you later, let you know how my back's doing." She said as she walked towards the back of the store.

Alice called after us, "Edward, I'll work on a design for you. I'll think about it and draw something out for you to look at within the next few days."

"That'd be great. Thanks Alice it was nice to meet you, I think." I said over my shoulder as I followed Bella out of the store, Alice's high tinkling laughter following us out the door.

Bella seemed almost unsteady on her feet as she crossed the uneven ground of the back parking lot over to her bike and slipped her helmet on.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked her. "If you can't handle it, you don't have to be brave when you are obviously in pain."

Bella's eyes were sharp and angry when they met mine.

"Just like you said earlier college boy. You don't know a goddamn thing about me and what I can or cannot handle." She flipped her visor down and roared out of the lot leaving me standing there staring after her like some sort of idiot. Obviously I had struck some sort of nerve that I didn't know was exposed.

I ran over to the bike and jumped on pulling on my helmet as I tried to kick start the bike. The two activities didn't go together very well so I tried to start the bike again once I got the helmet settled. Without Bella to follow I stuck to the main roads and made my way back to the shop. Her bike was in the lot in front of her garage but Bella was nowhere to be seen. I thought maybe she had gone inside to take something for her back. The door to the garage was open so I eased first her bike then the one I had ridden into the garage. I was about to turn off the light and walk out when motion in the corner caught my eye. I tensed immediately, leaning slowly towards the pistol that today was in a holster at my ankle when I realized it was Bella.

She was sitting on an overturned milk crate in the corner, staring at a bike that had been covered over completely with a tarp when we had been here earlier. It was an old bike and big but impossible to tell what the make and model had been because it was burned. Everything was covered in ashes and soot and the metal was twisted like it had crashed and badly.

I must have made a noise as I tried to make my way over to her because she suddenly turned showing me eyes that were brimming with tears. She turned her head away quickly, making sharp angry scrubbing motions at her eyes.

"Go away Edward." She said it sharply, sounding angry still.

"What is that Bella? Whose bike is that?" I asked her.

She got up and started covering it up with a tarp again.

"It's nothing, not important. Go away Edward."

I wanted to go over there and shake her until her teeth rattled. Instead I grabbed her arm and turned her to face me.

"Bella obviously this is something important and if that is case I need to know. You have to start telling me the truth, I need to know. About your background, about your family and what that means to this group so that I can do my job. I have to know what's going on like for instance who are you to these people that they would trust you like this and take your just your word on things? I have seen it around the shop, even without the being a ball buster like you talked about earlier these people defer to you like you are a leader. You said that women don't have good standing in the group, yet you apparently hold a position that gives you not only trust but some level of power with them. You are an important part of this world and obviously there is a lot shit going on that I am not seeing and not understanding cause you won't tell me anything. Do you want me to leave Bella? Do you want me to leave you right here in this fucked up little world you are in? Cause I thought that the reason you came to the bureau was because you wanted help. You wanted the bad shit to stop. I can't do anything to help you, anything to stop that if you don't give me anything. Talk. To. Me. "

I finished in a rush. I could see that she was angry but we were in a no win position here. Either she trusts me and we do this together or she doesn't and I flounder in the dark by myself and probably end up dead just like Harry Clearwater and the cop he had helped.

Bella jerked her arm out of my hand and gave me a hard shove in the chest. She grabbed her hair with both hands and pulled, it made my own scalp ache in sympathy she yanked so hard. Finally she stood up straight and looked at me.

"Fine Edward. You want the whole ugly truth? Well let's shut the doors to the building here and I will show you something. Help me here." She gestured to the garage door and I pulled it down and locked it from the inside while she walked over to the side door and locked it, pulling down the shades.

She flipped the overhead lights on and suddenly all the bikes were illuminated, showing me all the way back to the depths of the garage, there were several more bikes inside than I had originally thought, there was no way these were all hers…

She came and collapsed down onto the milk crate again and gestured for me to sit I pulled one up and sat next to her. She laid her face in her and hands and sighed. It was a painful sound. She took a deep breath and looked up, her gaze traveling over all the bikes in the room, there had to have been at least twenty.

"When you asked me earlier if all of these bikes are mine, I told you the truth, they are mine, now. Most of these bikes were my dad's, his name was Charlie Swan."

She looked at me obviously waiting to see my reaction. The pain I had seen run over her face when I asked if she was Charlie made sense now. Because it was fairly apparent from the way she said it that Charlie wasn't around any longer.

I nodded at her and waited for her to continue. Obviously this was hard enough; I would just let her go at her own pace.

She got up and headed towards the wall, where there were black and white photos framed above the work bench that held some of her tools. She pulled one off the wall and handed it to me.

The picture was of four men and one woman. The man and woman off to the side were obviously Bella's parents. The man had her dark solemn eyes and the woman was small and petite built like Bella with a mischievous look in her eye. Two of the men were Native American; one looked a lot like Jacob, Bella's mechanic. The other stood out, he had an almost aristocratic look about him, even though they were all wearing leathers for riding, he looked cold.

"This was my family. For most of my life, these people were there. Birthdays, holidays, every moment. These are the founders of the Volturi, the main group started by this man, Aro," she pointed to the cold looking man, "and my father Charlie Swan. This is my mother Renee. And this is Harry Clearwater and Billy Black. Only two of the people in this picture are still living. And only one is still running the Volturi. Aro."

Bella took a deep breath as she scrutinized the picture.

"You know what happened to Harry. My mother died of cancer when I was 12. Billy doesn't ride with the group anymore though he is still a member in an advisory capacity. He got into a crash with a car when Jake was a baby, he lived but was paralyzed. It scared the crap out of Jake's mom and so Billy won't ride anymore even on an adapted bike…" She trailed off.

I took the picture from her and looked at her closely, "And your dad? What happened to him?"

"My dad was my whole world. After my mom died he and the club were my only family. My dad and I were tight, he taught me to ride, to fix bikes, forced me to stay in school when I really wanted to drop out and run around with him doing business for the club. We always worked on bikes for the club. But it came to be something that I really loved. So we opened this place together. The bike you rode today was the first one we ever custom built. We named it in honor of my mom, cause we could see how much she would have loved it."

Bella took a deep breath, trying to control the tears that were brimming on the edge of her eyes. I could see that she was in pain and I hated having to do this to her, but there was no other way.

"About 4 years ago, the group started to change. When they first started the group there were specific requirements to get in and be a member. We had a lot of vets, people who wanted to be a part of something and we did a lot of charity work. Participating in parades, fundraising and donations to stuff for veterans, stuff like that. Things started to change. We were getting people in the group who the Hell's Angels would have turned away. And they were being allowed to stay. We weren't doing any of the charity work anymore and some shady things started happening around the shop. I started to feel like I was being kept out of the loop on a lot of things. My dad did too. We didn't like it; he tried to find out more about it."

"He must have gotten too close to something they didn't want him to know. Because he was murdered. That's what this is," she gestured to the burnt hulk of a bike behind her. "It's the bike he was riding when he crashed."

"Crashed? I though you said that he was murdered." I asked her.

She pulled back the tarp, "The bike has been tampered with. It isn't something that happened in the crash and it's not an accident because my father did all the maintenance on this bike himself. He went over the edge of a ditch, it wasn't terribly deep but he was hurt. Broken arm and leg, some internal injuries, he might have died from the crash anyway but whoever did this didn't want to wait. My father always wore a helmet. Especially after Billy's accident. His helmet wasn't at the scene of the accident. And the official cause of death was blunt force trauma. Someone kicked him or hit him in the head hard enough to kill him. To do that they would have needed to take his helmet off. But they couldn't prove that it wasn't from the accident and no one would listen to me when I said that he would never have ridden without his helmet. Someone else was there with him. Someone I know watched him crash and then went down to where my father lay hurt and bleeding and took his helmet off of him and kicked him in the head until he died. Someone I trusted killed him and left him there and took my father away from me. I will not stop until I find out who that person was and when I do they will suffer for it."

I looked at her and her eyes were blazing as she looked back at me.

"Bella you can't think like that. This can't be about revenge. Does Carlisle know about all this? I can't believe that he would agree to help you if he knew that you are in this to settle a vendetta."

"Yes he knows. And no, this is not about a vendetta or about revenge. This is about justice."


	6. Chapter 6 Scars

**And as usual, I own nothing Stephanie Meyer owns the characters, the rest is just stuff from my head please don't use it without asking. Hope you enjoy...**

_I looked at her and her eyes were blazing as she looked back at me._

_"Bella you can't think like that. This can't be about revenge. Does Carlisle know about all this? I can't believe that he would agree to help you if he knew that you are in this to settle a vendetta."_

_"Yes he knows. And no, this is not about a vendetta or about revenge. This is about justice."_

Chapter 6- Scars

**BPOV**

After what I had just said there was silence. The only sound was my own harsh breathing after having been crying. I stared at the floor not wanting to look at Edward anymore. Having just bared a big piece of my soul I couldn't bear the thought of possibly seeing judgement in his eyes. I remember him saying his parents were dead. But they probably weren't murdered and if they were, hopefully he hadn't invited the killer into his life and given him access to everyone he loved, like I had. Because what I hadn't told Edward was that I was pretty sure I knew who killed my father and that bastard would never have been a part of the club, never had the opportunity had it not been for me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder; I flinched away not wanting to look at him, to talk anymore. The hand came back and shook my shoulder gently.

"Bella? Bella. Look at me please. "

It was the please that got me. I turned my head and started at his boots, working my way up from the ripped jeans, the plain black belt, the dirty t-shirt and jacket, finally to his face. Strong chin, large lips, strong nose just slightly crooked, and finally his eyes, those wide green eyes were moist as though he had been on the edge of tears. He took a deep breath and steeled himself.

"Bella I know what it is like to lose someone you love. I am sorry that happened to your dad. It is good that you told me this; the more information that you can share with me, the easier it will be to catch the bastard who did these things and put him away. But you need to understand that he needs to be put away. The goal of all this is to see this person behind bars. Not to take vengance and kill him like he did your father. Do you understand that? Like you said justice, not vengance. "

He was looking at me intently with a hand on each of my shoulders. By that time I had recovered enough to be a little annoyed by his speech and want to poke at him.

"I know." I pushed his hands away and got up to prowl around the garage, recovering my dad's motorcycle quickly.

"My idea of justice is to see that bastard rotting in jail and to be able to take the Volturi and turn it back into what it was. A club my father and mother could be proud of, a place that has some rough and rowdies but is respectable does good work and maybe we are feared but more for a reputation than actual proof of misdeeds. Even before my father died the group was changing. Getting more members with shady reputations, people who were heavy into drugs and ones who started moving things around, drugs, money. Since my father died it has gotten worse. I have seen things and done things that I am not proud of. And it just keeps getting worse. And people I love are dying and being threatened, I will not put up with it anymore. And so I put my faith in you, college boy, to help me stop it. Heaven help you if you can't do what you say and help me fix this."

I turned and glared at him, I was putting my last best hope in him and he had better fucking realize it. I expected Edward to pull himself back together and become the slightly sneering cocky bastard he had been for most of our interactions. But he remained the serious, sober man who I had spoken to only a few times, the first morning after we'd met and the earlier in the day in the office when I had harrassed him about college.

He stood up across from me and started stripping out of his shirt like he had earlier at Alice's. I backed up quickly holding up both hands.

"What are you doing?" I asked rather alarmed.

I kept back ing up until I met a bike behind me and could go no further without knocking it over. His eyes were angry; he stripped his undershirt off with jerky, heated motions.

"Comparing scars. You told me your story. Now you are going to listen to mine. You already saw most of it at Alice's anyway and I doubt that this is the first time you have seen a man with no shirt. I am tired of you mocking me. You aren't the only one who has been through shit. Maybe if we can understand each other, it will be easier to work together. Cause today was the most words I have gotten out of you in one session. You are sarcastic and caustic at every turn and if you really want my help, you can't be this way. I understand that in public you have to kick my ass, that's who you are.

But if you can't start to trust me with everything I can't find the person who killed your dad. And I think you know or suspect who it is Bella. I could see it on your face. When I talked about putting someone away I was speaking in abstract. You were picturing someone specific, talking about seeing them behind bars. Now sit down. It's your turn to listen."

Looking at him I could tell he was serious as a heartattack. There was no way to back out of this. So I sank back down onto the milk crate I had occupied before and waited. I could see it was hard for him to find the words. We can all talk about our emotions until we are blue in the face, but the big ones were more difficult. So I decided to help him.

"Tell me about the tattoo Edward. It may not be a scar technically, but if you want it covered badly enough to strip off in the middle of Alice's shop, it must have some heavy meaning behind it."

He nodded, mostly to himself and started to talk.

**EPOV**

I was internally shaking as I tried to pick out the words to explain my story to Bella. Secrecy had been a part of my life for so long it was like an old coat. I put it on everyday, never explaining myself, never telling the whole truth because like with most people, the truth hurt. Carlisle and probably some of my superiors at the agency were the only people who knew my whole story, and Carlisle was the only one who I had willingly told.

Bella was watching me with wide eyes, kind of shocked I think that I had starting taking off my clothes.

A look crossed her face, part impatient and part sympathy. And then she said, for me to tell her about my tattoo, the playing card on my left pec that I had asked Alice about.

I blew out a breath and thought back.

"I got this, when I was in juvie the first time. It was where I first met this kid, Dimitri. I was maybe 14; he was the same age just with a whole different attitude. I thought I was all big and bad in my neighborhood. I had been doing errands for this shop, they chopped up cars. At the time I didn't think it was that big a deal. I started out running errands, and then I got jumped up to stealing the cars and bringing them to the shop. I was good at it cause I was still kind of small and quick, I could pick locks and hotwire cars, and I couldn't even drive yet. And people wouldn't look at me cause who would suspect a kid? My parents hated it. They tried everything they could to get me to stop. They were good people; I was just a little shit. "I felt my lips curve in a sort of rueful smile.

"Carlisle would probably say I was going through a rebellious stage. And I was, though most of the money I made I gave to my parents. My dad worked in a factory, my mom was a maid at a hotel, they were tough workers but it was hard to ever make ends meet. They told me to stop and that there were better ways to make money, honest ways, but I wouldn't listen. Then the shop got busted, and me along with it. Everyone else got some pretty intense jail time; I was the only one under 18 so off I went to juvie.

Anyway that's where I had the unfortunate experience of meeting Dimitri. The very first day I was there he broke my nose, that's why it's crooked. Said since I was new I owed him something, like a tax or something like that. I had nothing to give so he decked me. I didn't even see it coming. Then bam, blood pouring from my nose. After that first day I found out he ran that place like mob bosses run prisons. No one came in or out without doing something for Dimitri. I was there for a few months. I did the best I could to try and avoid him but he was always there, wanting something from me. I kept telling him I didn't have anything to give, and then two days before I left he decided that since I wasn't going to give, he was going to take. I woke up in the middle of the night to being tied to my bed and gagged with a sheet."

Bella gave a sharp intake of breath and looked at me very hard. I shook my head.

"It's not what you think. I was tied down face up; Dimitri had brought two of his goons, Felix and Alec. They ripped my shirt open and I thought that was what was going to happen when Dimitri got down into my face.

He said,'Masen I have given you time to come up with your tax, but now you are about to go home and you still haven't paid. So I have come up with a little reminder for you. You'll be back here and when you come back you will remember me, and remember that you owe me. Now be quiet little bitch otherwise this could get ugly.'

And so Alec fired up the homemade tattoo machine and they gave me this, as a reminder. "

I walked back to where I had sat while she talked and sank down; it was hard to tell these stories. Bella didn't say anything, just waitied for me to continue.

"Juvie did its' job. Scared the hell out of me and I tried for a long time to be a good kid. The only problem was that I was always getting into fights. The people I had worked for tried to get me to come back, when I said no they got mad. So I got the shit beaten out of me several times. Then I started to get older and be able to fight back, and when I saw them trying to recruit other kids from my neighborhood I started the fights. I told them to leave those kids the hell alone and to stay away.

I kept seeing all the pushers around my neighborhood. The dope dealers and the car thieves, It was more serious than that though because all of those people answered to someone else, someone higher, the big boss, a bastard just like Dimitri had been but bigger meaner, and even harder to get rid of. The cops tried to clean up my neighborhood. I can't tell you how many of them ended up being paid off just to leave and pretend that they made thei r patrols. Almost anyone can be bought; you just have to find the right price. I went back to juvie a few times, luckily Dimitri wasn't there when I did so it wasn't such an ordeal and I didn't get nearly as much time for fighting and assualt as I did for stealing cars, especially since most of the people I fought with were worse than me. That's where a lot of these marks came from, fighting."

Bella nodded and said "What about those Edward? The marks on your back and shoulders look like burn marks."

I gritted my teeth. "They are."

Her face softened and she reached out and lightly touched my arm, "Edward its okay, you don't have to keep going. "

I tipped my head back and tried to pretend I was examining the lights while I attempted to reign myself in. I managed to push the words out despite my reluctance. "Those marks are from the fire that killed my parents."

"We lived next door to this horrible old shack. Our house was no prize, none of the ones in that neighborhood were, but the one next to ours was the kind of house little kids talk about being haunted cause it was so rundown. But there were always people coming and going. We could never figure out exactly what they were doing, but there was always this horrid chemical smell around the house….."

I looked at Bella, she had a knowing look, "A meth lab?" she said.

I nodded. "One night I had been out with the other guys, playing ball and I was walking home with some buddies when fire trucks and ambulance and cop cars just went whipping past us. They usually avoided our neighborhood unless it was something serious so we all ran along afterwards following them. I didn't realize until I was nearly there that they were headed for my end of the block. When we got there my eyes just couldn't make sense of what I saw. The old house was just gone, down to the foundations like it hadn't existed, and my house and the one on the opposite side of the where the old house had been were both engulfed in flames.

I ran towards my house and didn't stop; I was through the front door and halfway up the stairs before the firefighters caught up with me. I tried to fight them off but they dragged me out, but not before the roof started to collapse. Their suits protected them but I got hit with some flaming wood. The burns were pretty bad but I hardly felt it, all I wanted to know was had my parents been home. The car was there and my neighbors said they had seen them go in but I didn't believe it until they brought out the body bags…" I took a deep shuddering breath.

"While I was in the hospital I became obsessed with finding out what happened. My friends came to visit and did some detective work for me. The police and fireman had said that what happened was that the chemicals in the meth lab became unstable and exploded, catching both my house and the one next door on fire. Some of my friends, they found out that one of the neighborhood pushers didn't like that people were buying meth instead of coke and that his business had been suffering enough that he decided to take out his competition. So he used a couple of Moltov cocktails and poof, no more competition, no more parents.

All my good intentions went out the window when my parents died. They released me into the custody of one of my friend's families while they tried to figure out what to do with me because I was nearly 18. I stalked that motherfucker for a week after I got out before I finally got close enough. I probably would have killed him had my friend's mother not seen me beating on him in the middle of the street. No one could pull me off of him but she called her brother who was an actual decent cop and he came and stopped it.

I was nearly sent to genuine prison for assult but the story of what he had done came out during my trial and the judge was sympathetic to the kid who had just lost his parents. So back to juvie I went and that's where I met up with Dimitri again.

I tried to avoid him like I had before but it didn't work, I tried to ignore him. He would find me and rip my shirt to show the tat on my chest saying I still owed him. Then some idiot told him about my family and he said something to me one day during his daily taunting of me. I went wild, I tried to beat the hell out of him, and I got in a few good hits before the guards pulled me off him. But that night Dimitri came and got payback, tenfold. I woke up to being burned with a lit cigarette in my back. "

I pointed to the small round scar, "and then they tied my hands and mouth and took turns beating on me. I was older this time and could take a lot more considering the fighting I had been doing at home, it was painful to say the least but I let them think I was a lot more beaten down than I was. I waited until they weren't paying as much attention to me and then I worked my hands loose and pulled the gag away, I started screaming for the guards and tried to run, but I was weaker than I had thought because of the burns. Dimitri had a knife, that's where this came from, "

I pointed to a long scar on my back, over my left shoulder, "he was aiming for my heart but it didn't go deep enough. I twisted and he stabbed me in the leg, I have another nasty scar on my thigh but I will preserve your dignity and not show it to you."

Bella gave me a weary smile, "Thanks. It sounds like he was trying to kill you, what happened?"

"Being stabbed in the leg was the last thing I remember cause I blacked out. I lost a lot of blood; he came very close to the artery in my leg which is what he had been aiming for. I woke up in the hospital. Sitting next to my bed was this blonde haired ken doll who asked me a million questions. It was Carlisle, the FBI was interested in the case because it turned out that Dimitri's dad was high up in the Russian mob and he had been grooming junior to take over, happily attempted murder fucked up those plans and I believe Dimitri is still at Riker's Island since he was tried as an adult.

Carlisle and I got along really well. When it came time for me to get out he talked me into moving in with him and his wife. He told me that if I did what he did, I could stop people like Dimitri and the guy that started that fire by helping take down the people who paid them, the movers, ones who moved guns, drugs, money, and people. I liked the idea and he said that in order to do that I had to go to college. He paid for it all, and I worked my ass off, not just because I was grateful but because he said that he'd given me a chance and if I wasted it there would not be another. He gave me the opportunity to be the man my parents had raised me to be, rather than the little shit I had been when they were alive. And I meant what I said earlier, I would give it all back to have them here with me again, for them to see that I wasn't always that angry rebellious kid."

I fell silent after that, not sure what else to say. After a moment Bella lightly slapped my leg.

"Well aren't we just a couple of fucked up miscreants?" Bella said obviously being scarcastic but she sounded more tired than angry. "That story would make you fit in with the club perfectly. When it was my father and Aro running the club, they liked people with families, wives, etc. Now, they prefer loners. No family. So the club becomes your family. Becomes so important that you would do anything for it. If anyone asks you about your family, tell an abbriveated version of that, just leave out the rehabilitated, joining the FBI parts. You will fit in perfectly. "

Bella scrubbed her hands over her face and blew out a breath.

"Well after all that I think we call it a day Edward."

I opened my mouth to protest but she held up a hand.

"I know that we aren't done talking. But I think we have both had enough for tonight. I am done with the emotional purging for the evening. Go home. Do whatever it is that you need to do to work through it and come back tomorrow. Personally I am going to go home and have a drink and get this goddamn tape off my back before it starts itching anymore. "

I rubbed my hand against the back of my neck awkwardly as scenes from the shop and Bella topless in a pink towel surfaced in my head, "Shit your tattoo! I forgot about it completely. Are you alright?"

Bella stood up and walked to hang the picture of her family back on the wall, she made sure it was straight then turned and gave a tight smile over her shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Edward. That kind of pain is nothing compared to the rest."

I stood and watched as she took off the leather jacket and slung it over the back of her bike. She kept her back to me and said,  
"I have some work to do in here yet, shut the door behind you."

It was a dissmissal if ever I had heard one.

I lifted the garage door and ducked under it, sliding it back down behind me. It had barely hit the cement before I heard the lock click from the inside.

It was dark already; the shop closed up and sign dark. I walked over to the gravel lot where employees parked. There were no bikes and no cars remaining other than my truck.

By habit I checked around, scanned the building, my truck, Bella's private garage, no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

I was trying to get into the habit of noticing what was normal and what was not. This wasn't a fantastic neighborhood, but it wasn't too bad. A little chancy after dark but the people around here knew Charlie's. If what Bella said about the Volturi and their reputation was true, anyone around here who might think about messing with the shop would be monuementally stupid.

Driving on the highway back to my place I watched the mirror, no one was tailing me. It was getting hard after as much time as I had spent in the garage to be on red alert all the time. Everyone I'd met so far seemed to be nice genuine people, all of whom were vouched for by Bella. I had yet to meet any of the major players, besides Bella.

I wasn't really all that clear on the inner workings of the club yet. Tonights admissions had been the most information I had gotten from her since we'd met. I was hoping that this would be a beginning something to lead to her trusting me more.

I sighed; it was hard to even think of all the things I had to learn. So many angles to explore, so many things to look for. The lights flashed as I turned on my street. I pulled into the spot at my building and headed in. It had been a long day to say the least. Once the doors were locked and I had kicked off my boots and put the guns away it was just me and an old bottle of johnny walker black. I stood at the kitchen sink looking out the window at nothing as I poured the first shot. It burned down my throat all the way into oblivion.

**EPOV**

The next morning my head hurt but wasn't much worse for wear considering my friendship with whiskey from the night before. I think a lot of it came from spilling my guts, which is a lot more painful than any hangover I possibly could have had. As a result I was a bit light sensitive and grouchy but mostly alright. The same could be said for Bella when I got into work that morning. She was a little pale but other than that mostly normal, she gave me a brisk nod when I came in for the morning meeting but nothing else.

As usual everyone was gathered in the break room chatting waiting to hear the business or assignments for the day, when Bella came in and got settled the noise turned down and everyone looked at her expectantly.

"Hey guys. Not a real heavy load today, which is nice since it is Friday. Leah I want you to continue working on the bike for Rodriguez, and have Seth help. "Leah nodded. Bella turned her attention to the next person.

"Seth today you are staying at the shop, no errands today. I'll run any errands we have since I have to leave this afternoon for a meeting. "

When Bella said this the eyes of all the people that Bella had said were club members looked at her sharply. Bella met Jacob, Jasper, Rose and Leah's eyes each briefly and gave one nearly imperceptable nod. Something to do with club business then I imagined. Bella strictly avoided eye contact with me for the rest of the meeting.

When everyone's assignments were settled for the day I got up and headed towards the office but I noticed that Jacob and Bella had hung back behind while everyone else scattered to their jobs for the day, they were talking softly in the corner of the breakroom when I left. Once in the office I sent Bella a text.

_We need to talk, what's going on?_

Ten minutes later the door to the office swung open and was quickly shut and locked behind Bella.

"What's up Edward? What do you want to talk about?" She asked. She was still avoiding my gaze.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? Are you really going to try and play stupid with me? Something's up. You never leave the shop in the middle of the day, and every club member's eyes snapped right to you when you said that you had to leave for a meeting. So I repeat myself, what's going on?"

She rolled her eyes. "There are a lot of things that I haven't yet told you about the group Edward. There are some things that I can't say because if you are to be initiated they will have to be a surprise and if it was let on that you were told I could have a lot of problems."

I folded my hands behind my head in the chair and looked at her waiting.

"Fine, lets start small. What was Jacob talking to you about and don't tell me it was shop business."

Bella pushed away from the door where she had been leaning and when and sat on the leather couch. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair and pushed it away from her face.

"Jacob wanted to know if I wanted him to go with me. I told him no because this is a private meeting and only myself and a few others will be there. This meeting is to decide when and where the first good weather ride will be and what will happen at the meet to follow. I am going to tell them at this meeting that I have someone I would like to see considered for membership. In the weeks that you have been here I have gotten to know you enough that I think you can cut it."

I sucked in a deep breath when she said that. It meant that I was being given a real chance. I had passed the test.

"There will only be a few people there. If you want to compare it to the army this is a meeting of the general and some lieutenants. Jasper and Jacob could press to go if they really wanted because they are technically considered lieutenants, but since I was the one the message was passed through and they owe loyalty to me, then I decide whether or not they go. This is a private meeting. That means you can't follow me either. Don't think that I haven't noticed you."

She looked at me straight.

I shrugged, "Just doing my job boss lady. " I gave her a mocking smile.

"Uh-huh." She got up and headed back towards the door. "I have errands to run. I don't know when I will next see you with the weekend coming up but I will be in touch. Let me know if you need anything. I will have some information for you on Monday for certain. In the meantime stay out of trouble. "

I saluted her, "Will do."

She wrinkled her nose at me, "Whatever college boy, just behave."

Before I could respond the door clicked shut behind her.

**….**

The rest of the day I was on pins and needles, hoping that Bella would come back before I left for the day. Mostly I just wanted to make sure she was alright. It was my job to make sure that she stayed in one piece at least that was what I was trying really hard to tell myself was the reason. It was definetly part of it; I did not want Bella to end up in the bay like Harry Clearwater had.

I tried not to dwell too much on the other parts of it, but the fact was this job was consuming so much of my mind lately and Bella was a part of every aspect. Images of her flashed through my brain as I drew, Bella's hair whipping in the wind as she rode to Alice's shop. Her smirky smile as she called me college boy, her face smugdged and dirty with tear tracks as she listened to me tell my story then other night, and last but certainly not least, her swaggering past me with nothing but a pink towel held over her breasts and a pair of low slung blue jeans as she went to get her tattoo touched up at Alice's shop. I was thinking way too much about Bella lately. In ways that weren't safe for either of us.

I was so caught up in my head and what I was drawing that I didn't hear the person standing behind me until it was too late.

"What's that you're drawing Edward?" Rose's voice rang out loudly over my shoulder.

I glanced down quickly at my pad, it was still a bike but it had taken on a more feminine style than it had when I started. You could see the suggestion of curves more like a woman's body than a bike. I covered the pad up quickly before I turned around and answered her, trying to give myself some time to recover and collect my thoughts.

"Just an idea I had for a bike. Why? What's up? Do you need me for something?" I asked her as I turned in my chair to face her.

She leaned in the open doorway all her weight on one side with her arms folded watching me. The look she was giving me was a very measuring as if I sat on a scale.

Rose gave a good imitation of Bella's normal sneer,"Honey I don't need you for anything. But some of the crew is going out to the bar tonight and you have been here long enough we thought we'd ask if you wanted to go. Interested?"

I stretched and checked the clock, I had been locked in here in my own little world for so long I had lost track of time, it was about 5 minutes after the shop had closed.

"Sure, when and where?" I stood up and started gathering my shit for the day and checking my pockets for all the usual, wallet, keys, cell, etc.

"The boys are heading over now. "She said, pointing out back where we all parked. "Hurry and you can head with them. We ladies will be there in a bit." She smirked when she said this like she was in on a secret I wasn't.

I nodded, "Okay well I'll just head over with the guys and I'll see you later, thanks for the invite."

Rose clicked down the hall towards the break room on the needle thin heels that she wore everyday and it boggled my mind how she fixed bikes in them but she called out over her shoulder.

"Oh don't worry Edward, it was my _pleasure_."

Not being sure what to make of that last comment I shut the door of the office behind me and quickly headed out towards the parking lot where Jasper and Jacob stood waiting for me.

The two main men in the shop leaned against the side of Bella's garage talking quietly as I walked towards them. Both tall and strong, Jacob still towered over Jasper in height; he was nearly 6'7 and had the muscles to prove it. Most of the time Jacob looked like he could lift the whole bikes by himself without using the hydrolic lifts that the mechanics worked at.

Jasper was quieter, much less of a joker than Jacob. He was tall and raw boned, he looked thin but you could see the cords in his arms when he moved. And he moved like someone who knew how to fight. Despite Jacob being such a big and imposing guy if they had been people I needed to be careful of, Jasper, not Jacob would have been the one I watched out for.

They stopped talking when I got closer, just a slight head tilt and eye shift from Jasper and Jacob stopped talking mid sentence. I pretended not to notice and greeted them like normal when I got closer.

"Hey, what's up? Rose tells me that we are going to a bar tonight. "

They both started towards me Jacob smiling, Jasper giving me a similar look to what Rose had earlier, as though I was being measured.

"Yeah man, we're going to do some drinking to shake off this week and ring in the weekend. You want to drive? Our women have the vehicles and since it looks like rain we might want to leave the bikes."

I gestured them towards my truck, "Sure no big deal, it would definietly be safer, hydroplaning on a bike is no fun."

We crunched across the gravel towards the truck and I unlocked it while Jacob elbowed Jasper out of the way for the front seat.

"Ow! Fuck, there was no reason for that." Jasper rubbed his side as he climbed into the back cab of the truck. "You could have just asked to sit up front douchebag."

Jacob gave him a wide grin as he settled comfortably into the front seat stretching out his long legs.

"I'm taller than you; I should get the front automatically, no matter what."

Jasper snorted and gave him a look, "I'd like to see you tell the girls that. They would have your balls for earrings."

Jacob twisted in the seat to mock glare at Jasper. "That's a whole different thing man. You don't mess with the women; you just give them what they want. It is far less painful for everyone that way."

While they argued back and forth, I swung up into the driver's seat of my truck and attracted their attention when I started the engine and the rumble drowned out the conversation.

"This is a sweet ride Edward. If I haven't mentioned before, bikes are the best, but this is a close second, a good truck with a big engine." Jacob made a grunting noise of appreciation.

I grinned back at him and pulled the truck across the lot towards the road, "Where are we going?"

"Turn left here." Jasper said quietly from the back seat.

I did as he said and we continued talking as I drove with occasional directions from the back seat. It seemed like I was driving in circles. Traffic wasn't the greatest in the city on a Friday but still, it seemed as though we took an extra long time to get a distance that wasn't all that far from the shop.

In the end we arrived at a large industrial looking building with row upon row of bikes parked outside it as well as cars and trucks, everything from old beaters to bmws.

We went indoors passing a big burly guy who made Jacob look small and headed to the bar. I scoped out the building as we walked, it seemed to be divided up because the inside wasn't nearly as big as the outside suggested. The bar itself was divided up into 3 different areas, there was a dance floor where a fair number of couples were moving to the loud blasting hard rock that the dj was spinning over the speakers. There was a long chestnut colored bar above which hung parts and motors and classic pieces of bikes, just next to the bar were a few tables and they off to the side were six pool tables, all currently occupied.

Most of the people in the bar were dressed similarly to Jacob, Jasper and I, ripped jeans, boots, lots of black and wallet chains. There werea lot of people dressed in riding leathers as well and along one wall near the bar was a line of hooks and knobs to place gear and helmets. As we walked up to the bar Jacob nodded to the bar tender, a tall man with long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and a small goatee on his chin. Jacob held up three fingers and the bartender who paused in what he was doing to briefly shake my hand and say his name was Garret, slid three beers down the bar towards us.

Jacob tapped his bottle to both mine and Jasper's, "To the end of the work week and to being one week closer to regular riding season."

"Right." "Cheers." Said Jasper and I.

Jacob caught Garret's eye and they immediately began an indepth conversation about bikes and left Jasper and I standing awkwardly for a moment before he turned to me.

"Ali says that you have a tat you want covered up. What's wrong with it?" he asked me conversationally.

Jasper was trying to put me at ease but there was just a feeling in the background whenever I talked to him that he was trying to gauge different things about me. Like I was being watched or compared to someone.

As answer to his question I pulled my t-shirt up high enough so he could see it.

Jasper blanched and took another pull from his beer, "That looks like it hurt. You shouldn't have struggled so much."

I froze, looking at him with my beer bottle halfway to my lips. "What the hell are you talking about?"

**...**

*** Note to readers. I have to apologize for it having been so long since I have posted. I have had computer difficulties and some personal life got very much in my way, not to mention some writer's block, what can I say? When it rains, it pours.**

**Just so everyone knows, I do intend to continue with the story, and I will try very diligently not to let it go for so long this time.**

**But FYI i do have a full time job and finding time to write around that and the rest of mi vida loca can be hard so my posting will be sporadic but I promise not to make anyone wait that long for a chapter again.**

**Once again thank you to anyone who reads or reviews, I appreciate all of it.**


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